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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24101455">The Receptivity of the Masses is Very Limited</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/OhHamilton/pseuds/OhHamilton'>OhHamilton</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Benevolent Overlord [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Forced Marriage, Forced Pregnancy, Gender Dysphoria, Gender or Sex Swap, Hermione Granger is a Good Friend, Light Bondage, M/M, Magical Pregnancy, Magical Theory (Harry Potter), Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Politics, References to Miscarriage, Wizengamot, Worldbuilding, but not mpreg</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 23:54:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>46,705</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24101455</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/OhHamilton/pseuds/OhHamilton</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The summer is at an end; it is time for Harry and Severus to take their places in the Wizengamot, to fight for balance and equality against Minister Dumbledore. How many curveballs can be thrown their way though? Will they stand together against the onslaught of the Light? Or will they crumble under the pressure?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Harry Potter/Severus Snape, Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy, Neville Longbottom/Pansy Parkinson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Benevolent Overlord [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1470167</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>126</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>490</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Welcome to Part 7! Now, I know some of the tags might alarm you all. Try not to worry too much about it. In this, we will be delving heavily into the world of the Wizengamot where legislative change is on the horizon, forcing our boys to adapt in untenable situations. </p>
<p>I have written so much legislation for this bloody story it is ridiculous. I feel like I am losing my mind sometimes. </p>
<p>I am going to be tackling some squicky content, depending on what bothers you. I'll try to put up warnings before the chapters where stuff goes down. </p>
<p>Anyway, on with the chapter!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/><p>Harry and Severus strode into the Wizengamot chambers on September second, settling in the visitor section, awaiting their turn to be sworn in. Neville sat nervously next to Harry who was taking over the Longbottom seat from his grandmother now that he was of age. They watched the chambers slowly fill as 10am approached and the beginning of the first Wizengamot session of the season.</p><p>Dumbledore was of course, one of the last to arrive, striding in a minute before 10am when the doors would seal and settling himself in the Ministers seat. He was flanked by Amelia Bones, the Head of the DMLE and Percy Weasley, Undersecretary for the Minister of Magic.</p><p>The left-hand wing of the u-shaped room held the light faction seats. Filling the centre of the u and behind the three government positions, was the neutral, the right-hand wing was empty except for Sirius, sitting in the Black seat. He was holding the combined proxies of all active dark seats. With Harry finally able to take up the mantle of Lord Potter, and Sirius the best candidate to sit as figurehead for the dark, they had made the shift at the end of the previous season. Many believed Sirius was Lord Black, rather than just the proxy, unaware that his stint in Azkaban precluded him from taking up the lordship.</p><p>Following Lucius’ advice that the dark faction was completely abandoning Britain, it was agreed that instead of allowing the dark presence to fade completely from politics, Sirius could hold the proxy of them all. It was not safe for many of the dark lords and their families to remain in the country. Prejudice against the dark by the light was at an all time high; they could barely leave their homes without being hexed and the Aurors were not legally required to do much about it. Sirius was protected though - his history of serving the light, his time in Azkaban where he was held illegally, his position at Hogwarts - made everyone who would attack, unwilling to do so. By default, Sirius was now the leader of the dark faction and he had to walk a fine line, ensuring that he looked after his people while not allowing the light to think he had been ‘corrupted’.</p><p>They had agreed to allow Sirius to maintain the proxies of all of Harry’s seats, bar the Potter one. The whole situation was unprecedented, but there was no rule preventing Sirius from effectively acting as a placeholder for an entire faction. No one else had ever been trusted with so much in the history of the Wizengamot and Dumbledore was not impressed by it.</p><p>As the clock chimed ten, Chief Warlock Greengrass banged his gavel and called for order. “The Wizengamot is now in session for the 454<sup>th</sup> season in the year 1998, on September second. First, we have a few new introductions, Lord Fawley, I believe you have the first?”</p><p>Lord Jeremy Fawley, a middling man who was greying rose and bowed to the Chief Warlock. “Yes, Chief Warlock Greengrass, I have the pleasure of introducing Lord Harry Potter who will be stepping into the Potter Seat.”</p><p>Harry strode to the platform before the Chief Warlock who nodded to him solemnly. They had double checked the legislation, as Harry was officially a Potter, he was not obligated to notify the Wizengamot of his other titles and seats.</p><p>“Lord Harry James Potter, do you swear by Lady Magic to remain faithful and honest within these chambers, upholding the law to the best of your abilities and knowledge. Do you swear to forever pursue the best possible action for the Wizarding public of Britain?”</p><p>Harry stood proud and true as he spoke the ritual words back.</p><p>Magic swirled around the room, eventually settling on an empty seat on the second top row of the light faction. Harry bowed to the Chief Warlock and made his way up the stairs, allowing the magic to wash over him, accepting him as the new Lord Potter.</p><p>Greengrass cleared his throat. “As leader of the Neutral Faction, I have the pleasure of both introducing and inducting Lord Severus Tobias Prince who will be stepping into the Prince Seat.”</p><p>Severus mirrored Harry’s previous steps, stopping before the Chief Warlock so he could also be sworn in. Thankfully they had never considered changing either of their names with their bonding, they would have been forced to reveal it before it was time.</p><p>Magic swirled once more, eventually settling on an empty seat on the third top row of the neutral faction. Severus bowed to the Chief Warlock and strode to his spot, allowing the magic to wash over him, accepting him as the new Lord Prince.</p><p>Once Severus took his seat, Greengrass spoke again. “I am also introducing and inducting Lord Neville Frank Longbottom who will be stepping into the Longbottom seat.”</p><p>It was now Neville’s turn to step forth, stopping before the Chief Warlock so he too could take his rightful place.</p><p>Magic swirled around the room, eventually settling on an empty seat on the second top row of the neutral faction. Neville bowed to the Chief Warlock and followed the call of his family magic to his new seat.</p><p>Greengrass banged his gavel. “As the introductions have been completed, we can now move onto new business,” As Greengrass glanced down at the agenda, Dumbledore coughed politely. Immediately the Chief Warlock stopped. “Yes, Minister Dumbledore?”</p><p>“Before we move on with the agenda, I wanted to express my concerns over the Dark Faction. It seems that only one member has turned up this season.” The man sounded deeply worried.</p><p>“Lord Black?” Greengrass prompted, turning to the lone man sitting in the dark faction. “would you care to comment?”</p><p>Sirius rose, giving a short bow to Greengrass. “I have been appointed proxy by those with seats in the Dark who no longer feel safe on British soil.”</p><p>Murmuring rose through the room.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Sirius, but I don’t understand. Who do you stand proxy for?” Dumbledore probed, looking perplexed.</p><p>“I stand proxy for the Dark faction.” Sirius repeated. “When I checked the legislation available, we confirmed there is no limit to how many proxies a single person could hold. So I hold them all.”</p><p>Not just Dumbledore appeared stunned by this revelation. “All of them? But which families? How many is all of them?”</p><p>Sirius gave the Minister an apologetic smile. “I am sorry, I am not able to release that information. It is sealed by the house magics.”</p><p>“But I am the Minister, Sirius, I have a right to know.” Dumbledore frowned.</p><p>“Apologies Minister Dumbledore,” Greengrass cut in. “If a proxy is sealed by family magic, neither the Lord, Heir or Proxy are required or able to reveal it. Those three are the only ones who know and are not permitted, by the family magic, to share it. Lord Black would not be able to tell you what families he holds the proxies for if he wanted to.”</p><p>Dumbledore stilled for a moment, obviously not expecting to be refused. The man settled back in his chair, waving his hand negligently to indicate that Greengrass should continue.</p><p>“Thank you Minister. First on the agenda, Lord Fawley has the first proposal on the docket.”</p><p>“Thank you Chief Warlock Greengrass,” Fawley magicked a stack of papers before him to duplicate themselves, one set going to each member of the chamber. “You will find before you, a proposal for further restrictions on Dark Artefacts under the Regulation and Control of Harmful Dark and Black Magicks Bill of 1402. I will read the proposed amendment now. This is an amendment to:</p><p>Make provision for the imposing of restrictions on Dark Artefacts and Heirlooms owned by persons involved in conduct that gives support and assistance to terrorist organisations in the United Kingdom for the purpose of securing the safety of the citizens of the United Kingdom affected by such conduct.</p><p>Be it enacted by Lady Magic, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords of the Land, in this present Wizengamot assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: —</p><ul>
<li>
<strong>Dark Artefacts and Heirlooms that are owned by persons suspected of being involved in supporting terrorist organisations</strong>
<ol>
<li>Where Dark Artefacts and Heirlooms based in the United Kingdom are seized under British Ministerial Regulations if they are owned by persons including but not limited to citizens, who are or have been involved in conduct that gives support and assistance to terrorist organisations in the United Kingdom.</li>
<li>Following the seizure of Dark Artefacts and Heirlooms, they will be remanded into Ministerial custody and will be kept within secure purpose-built rooms on Ministry property.</li>
<li>All Dark Artefacts and Heirlooms will be submitted for review and assessment of their safety to the general public by Ministerial Experts. The seized Dark Artefacts and Heirlooms will be released to the owner only if and when appointed Ministry Experts deem it safe to do so.</li>
<li>Once a thorough review has been completed by appropriate Ministerial Expert(s), and their findings have been reviewed and verified by a Superior Ministerial Expert, will the Ministry consider releasing the Dark Artefacts and Heirlooms. This only provided all parties agree there is no risk to releasing the sieved item(s) into the original owners' possession.</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ul><p> </p><p>Silence swelled and broke over the chambers, the different Lords reading and re-reading the words.</p><p>"Does anyone second the motion to open the floor for discussion or would the Wizengamot prefer to allow further time to consider the proposed amendment outside of the session." The Chief Warlock asked, looking around the room.</p><p>When it became apparent that no one was ready to debate the bill, he banged the gavel once more. "You will all have the next month to prepare your discussions on the proposed Dark Artefacts and Heirlooms amendment. Shall we move onto the next order of business?"</p><hr/><p>Harry had just stepped out of the first Wizengamot session of the year only to be swamped by the media.</p><p>"Lord Potter! Do you have a moment!" One of the clustered reporters cried.</p><p>Harry stopped, gifting them with a charming smile. "Of course, I can spare a few moments."</p><p>"Lord Potter, how did you find being the youngest sitting Wizengamot member in over a century?"</p><p>"I acknowledge that the circumstances under which I have had to take up the mantle of Lord of my family are sad, I am honoured to have the opportunity to serve our great country in such a manner. I can only hope to do the magical community justice and act as a voice for the youth of our country who so often go unheard in the halls of power."</p><p>"Lord Potter!" a different reporter shouted, "Given the age gap, how do you find working with those older members of the Wizengamot?"</p><p>Harry gave a rueful chuckle. "I very much enjoyed the lively debate that was had between the age brackets, it was illuminating to see how those who have been in power for a long time, view things. None more so than our Minister for Magic Albus Dumbledore. He has been in a position of authority for most of his long life you know."</p><p>"Lord Potter! Given your previous connection with the Minister while you both resided at Hogwarts, how do you feel he is doing now as Minister?"</p><p>"Oh, Minister Dumbledore does his best, of course." Harry reassured before allowing worry to fill his expression. "It's just…" He paused again, flicking his eyes to the side where Dumbledore was talking to a different cluster of reporters. Harry leaned in, inviting the confidence of the reporters talking to him. "It's just he is the oldest minister we have ever had and I'm just a little worried at how tired he seems lately. I'm sure it's nothing to be concerned over but…" He trailed off, and before any of the reporters could continue the line of questioning, Severus stepped forward.</p><p>"Harry we must be going; we have an appointment to keep."</p><p>Harry jerked, blinking in faux surprise. "Of course, Severus," he turned back to the reporters. "Thanks for your time!" he gave them a little wave before trotting off, Severus in tow.</p><hr/><p>"We need to do something about Dumbledore. It is time we begin destroying his reputation through the media and we need to approach the ICW." Severus stated.</p><p>It was the next evening after the Wizengamot session. Yarrow Greengrass had agreed to floo over and see Harry and Severus in order to discuss their plan moving forward. The three of them were relaxing in the massive library which also had a sitting area and bar.</p><p>"I am deeply concerned over this new amendment, there is far too much ambiguity in it. He only needs a bare suspicion to carry out raids and confiscate heirlooms. The neutral faction will hopefully stand against it, but as long as they are not influenced directly, they seem happy to do nothing. I will contact the Supreme Mugwump, Babajide Akingbade, and discuss taking Dumbledore to trial. But it will take time." Yarrow commented. "We will need to begin preparing a case against him. We must have our ducks in a row, so to speak, before we make a move legally."</p><p>"Get an international lawyer, one without ties to Britain or anything dark. Have them sign a binding confidentiality agreement and hand over everything we have. They can prepare the case. I'll foot the bill if necessary." Harry offered from his armchair. "I have already started things with the media, so keep an eye on the papers."</p><p>"Before we continue, I feel that the situation with Voldemort bears more investigation, I can't help but wonder if Dumbledore had a hand in his rise. Unfortunately, I can't find anything about him prior to his emergence as Voldemort." Yarrow frowned, frustrated.</p><p>"That's because he wasn't born Voldemort." Harry commented, rising to fix a glass of scotch.</p><p>"Well that is obvious, but there is no other name I can find." Yarrow growled.</p><p>"Tom Riddle." Harry smirked.</p><p>Yarrow went ash white at the name. "What?"</p><p>Worried now for the other man, Harry produced his wand, mimicking that moment so long ago in his second year. Yarrow slumped in his chair when TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE changed to I AM LORD VOLDEMORT.</p><p>"Did you know him?" Severus queried after a few moments.</p><p>"Yes, we were at Hogwarts together. He was a nobody, just another little war orphan. He was so angry, so full of hate in the world, soon he was ruling over his year with an iron fist. I was a year above him and managed to mostly avoid his notice." Yarrow shuddered but continued speaking before they could ask. "Too young he began delving into the dark arts; to protect himself, we thought, from the war. Dumbledore, in particular, hated him, deducting points for nothing, refusing to award him any when he got things right."</p><p>Yarrow leant forward, scrubbing his hands over his face. “He was a very clever boy with an aptitude for dark magic. He picked everything up quickly and was soon beloved by the other teachers for being a model student. But there was something broken inside him and Dumbledore only made it worse.</p><p>"I remember him spending long hours in the library desperately searching for evidence that his father had been a wizard. He believed that his father had to be a wizard, but all of us knew Riddle was not a wizarding name. He refused for so long to believe that his mother, who had been so weak as to die in childbirth, had been a witch. Eventually, he shifted to his middle name, Marvolo, and found his family in the Gaunts, and the mother that bore him. Those of his family that were left were mad.</p><p>"The summer before his sixth year, he did something, there were reports of his uncle being sent to Azkaban for killing some local muggles. Riddle came back to Hogwarts… different. He was colder, crueller, more violent. It was almost as if he absorbed some of the madness of his family." Yarrow snatched up his glass of Firewhiskey, draining it. “I once caught him using a fire lash spell against a lower year who had dared to mention his blood status. Riddle stopped when I told him to, but that little boy was never the same again.</p><p>"After graduation, I heard a rumour that Riddle had approached Dippet, the headmaster before Dumbledore, to take up the Defence position, but Dippet refused, citing Riddles inexperience. Riddle went to work at Bourgin and Bourkes before disappearing to travel the world for a while, and five years later, applied again. This time it was Dumbledore as headmaster, and he refused the man again.</p><p>"Riddle just… snapped. I was at a small pub that used to be on the edge of Hogsmeade that was popular with the dark faction. Riddle turned up ranting and raving about Dumbledore always keeping him down, forcing him to return to the orphanage. He started cursing the place, no one could stop him. We all fled and the pub burnt down, the earth is still scorched. He vanished and we never knew what happened to him. I guess now we do."</p><p>"Merlin," Harry breathed as they all considered this new information. "Well, now you have a name, I guess you can find more on what caused his change into Voldemort, if you want. I will help however I can." Harry offered and Yarrow responded with a grimace.</p><p>The sound of the fire crackling softly in the background filled the space while Harry, Severus and Yarrow mused over their thoughts. Eventually, Harry stirred, remembering a letter he had gotten that afternoon.</p><p>"Severus, I have been invited for an interview at the prophet, should we release the details of our bonding?"</p><p>"How so?" Severus quirked a brow.</p><p>"Well, at the start of my seventh year, I had that confrontation with Ginevra where I told her I was already bonded. I am sure most dismissed it, but the rumour might crop up. I am not overly keen on denying our relationship and think it is a good opportunity to start leaking some of the bullshit Dumbledore has done. What do you think?" Harry was not interested in hiding their relationship any longer.</p><p>"I know you don't need my opinion," Yarrow began, "but I think it would be a good idea. You can make the story very romantic, get the wizarding public on your side. If you give little tidbits on why you had to bond early, any reporter worth their salt will start investigating. It would make it seem less like we are feeding the information to the media, make it a bit more organic."</p><p>Harry could see Severus was nodding along with Yarrow as he spoke and his heart soared, the world would soon know that they were happily bonded. Even if he had to lead the reporter to water and force them to bloody drink, the world would know.</p><p>One thing was for sure though, if they thought they could stick him in a room with bloody Skeeter, they would be sorely mistaken.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry I vanished for a bit! I kept getting stuck and there were things that were bothering me, so I decided to go back and do a hard copy review from Part 7 onwards. Unfortunately, this resulted in me making some changes to the first chapter, so it has been updated now if you wanted to go back and review it. I forgot to include Neville being sworn into the Wizengamot, because if Harry was being sworn in, Neville certainly should be too.</p><p>And then! I got the most irritating plot bunny for some Drarry and Draco would not stop shouting at me, so that distracted me some more! I have so many works in progress that I am currently writing, it's a little frustrating that I can't seem to finish any of them! </p><p>Anyway, it means that this part will probably end up being longer than 15 chapters, which hey, who's complaining. </p><p>This is the first half of Harry's big interview with Alice, I'll post the second half in a minute so you aren't waiting for the end of their talk. I have not written and don't plan to do another interview with Harry, instead I will just use articles to convey the needed information as I hate the duplication of including both the interview and the article. I will say that there is a butt tonne of foreshadowing in these next two chapters, a lot of what Harry talks about with Alice comes back later, some of which I have picked up on a re-read and will be using more than originally planned... </p><p>Remind me why I keep doing this to myself?</p><p>Thank you all for the lovely comments, I do read them, but as usual, am struggling to respond. As much as I love social isolation, it probably isn't good for my social skills in general. I can't remember the last time I had an actual conversation with someone I wasn't related to...</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>
    <em>Oldest Minister for Magic in our History!</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Today we take the time to celebrate the man who is single-handedly leading our people into the light. Albus Dumbledore became the oldest sitting minister when he was sworn in two years ago. In that time, he has overhauled our government and political systems, removing old prejudice and opening up new opportunities for all magical beings.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Last week, Minister Dumbledore celebrated his 117<sup>th</sup> birthday in a private party with his closest friends.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It is incredible to think of how much this man has achieved in his long life. It is amazing to think he is still going strong, willing to lead our country in his twilight years. He began as a humble Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts. Going on to defeat Grindelwald after which he managed to juggle the mantle of Headmaster, Supreme Mugwump and Chief Warlock. He is also noted for his work with alchemist Nicholas Flamel and their discovery of the twelve uses for dragons blood.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>So let us, the citizens of Wizarding Britain, take a moment to appreciate all our Minister has done for us; our oldest Minister of Magic.</em>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p>Harry strode into the Daily Prophet offices, dressed immaculately. He had been careful this morning, trying to strike a balance between authoritative Lord and relatable youth. He was wearing his favourite navy light weight casual robes that Pansy had made especially for him. Underneath he had on black slacks and a charcoal button-down with no tie. His hair was now long enough to wear in a bun, so he had messily scraped it back.</p><p>Harry knew he had gotten it right when Severus had stared at him hungrily across the breakfast table, their bond throbbing with desire. The older man had pouted when Harry left before his look could be ruined with sex. He would never admit this to anyone, hated even admitting it to himself, but he always got a little thrill leaving Severus hanging. It was his own little bit of revenge for when Severus was a particular dick to him. And it made the sex when they met back up again even better.</p><p>Shaking off his thoughts, Harry leant against the reception desk and smiled charmingly at the pretty girl behind it. She immediately smiled back, a light blush staining her cheeks.</p><p>"Good morning, I have been invited for an interview? There was no reporter name, just the invitation."</p><p>"Of course Lord Potter, Miss Skeeter is just waiting in one of our meeting rooms." The girl rose and began leading the way further into the building.</p><p>Harry jerked to a stop. "Excuse me, did you just say Skeeter?" His voice was cold, smile vanishing like mist in the morning.</p><p>The receptionist faltered. "She is our senior-most columnist. Mr Cuffe always has Miss Skeeter do the important interviews."</p><p>Harry sneered, unaware of how much it made him look like his husband. The girl blanched. "Yes, that is all well and good, except for my personal history with Skeeter. I refuse to reward someone with my time who has done nothing except print lies and salacious stories about my person. In fact, I believe it is only reasonable that should she ever write another article about me, I will sue her and this paper for everything they are worth."</p><p>The girl was now white and looking a little horrified.</p><p>"Now, do you have somewhere I can have a cup of tea and wait while you collect Mr Cuffe so that we can have a chat about appropriately choosing reporters to cover stories?" Harry straightened the sleeves of his robes, giving the receptionist a stern look.</p><p>"Of course, Lord Potter, this way." She replied weakly, leading him to a cosy meeting room which only had a sidebar for tea and coffee, two chairs and a coffee table.</p><p>"Thank you, Miss…?" Harry gave her a small smile and she relaxed a little, smiling back.</p><p>"Miss Love."</p><p>"Thank you, Miss Love, I am sorry you got caught up in this."</p><p>He could see how quickly his kindness softened her to him as she nodded and left. Humming a little to himself, Harry began preparing a cup of tea, settling into one of the chairs and flicking through some of the magazines that were stacked nearby. It wasn't more than ten minutes when an older man with white hair and well-made robes stepped into the room.</p><p>"Lord Potter, Miss Love has come to me saying you will not be interviewed by Rita?" Cuffe stuck out his hand so that Harry could shake it.</p><p>"Yes, that is correct, honestly I am a little offended that you would think it a good idea to put her in a room with me after the bullshit she printed about me in my fourth year." Harry arched a brow and was pleased to see Cuffe looked a little embarrassed.</p><p>"Yes well," Cuffe coughed and Harry interrupted before he could come up with an excuse or explanation or whatever.</p><p>"Regardless of your reasoning, you will either find another reporter to do the interview or I will find another newspaper." Harry rose, moving towards the door.</p><p>"No! Of course I will get someone else, please, give me a moment." Cuffe hurried from the room.</p><p>Harry smirked and settled back with his tea and magazines. Twenty minutes slipped by and Harry was working to control his irritation. It was not so much to ask that he be given a reporter who hadn't actively slandered him to work with. While Skeeter may have her place in the gossip columns, he hated the little bug and hoped one day to bring her down a peg or two.</p><p>Eventually, Cuffe returned, Miss Cochrane in tow. Harry immediately rose, taking her hand in a warm shake.</p><p>"Wonderful to see you again Miss Cochrane."</p><p>She smirked at him a little and Cuffe relaxed. "Excellent! If you will follow us, Lord Potter, we have a meeting room set up for the interview."</p><p>Harry happily followed along behind before being shown into a bigger sitting room flooded with natural light. There were two comfortable armchairs with a coffee table between them, an array of pastries as well as coffee and tea service laid out. Harry could see a little terrace just off a small set of French doors and there was a photographer in the corner fiddling with his equipment.</p><p>"Please take a seat, Lord Potter." Miss Cochrane directed him.</p><p>He smiled at her as he settled. "Please, call me Harry."</p><p>"Of course Harry, only if you will call me Alice."</p><p>Harry nodded his acceptance, snagging a blueberry danish.</p><p>"I will be using a dictaquill to record our conversation if that is alright?" She queried, setting a notebook and a quill on a small table at her elbow.</p><p>"Of course, I would expect nothing less."</p><p>"Please disregard the photographer, Enn will just take pictures as we talk, I can provide copies to you prior to us going to press." She explained and Harry nodded his acceptance.</p><p>"Excellent," She clapped her hands once and the quill sprang upright, quivering on the page. "Today I am here with Lord Harry Potter, once proclaimed to be The-Boy-Who-Lived and currently the youngest sitting member of the Wizengamot. I must ask, how does it feel being in a position where the things you do and say can impact the functioning of our society. It is a lot of responsibility for someone so young to handle."</p><p>Harry laughed easily "Starting with the big stuff are we?" He leant back in his chair, feeling the photographer shifting around in his peripherals quietly. "It is a heady feeling. It’s a lot of responsibility, but I feel like I am uniquely positioned to handle it. I'm not saying I can do it on my own; I have an excellent support system in my found family as I like to think of them.</p><p>"I feel like my age and life experience can be an asset, you know?” Harry went on, “A fresh voice in a room of men who have been having the same conversations for thirty years. A lot has changed in that time and it worries me that those in power have been unaware of the change. I am not saying that they are wrong, or stale or anything of the sort. It’s just, when you are tackling messy societal issues, sometimes a fresh perspective can trigger inspiration, a new solution.</p><p>"I have immense respect for the men who have been running out community since it was established. I cannot stress that enough. Except, the world is changing around us. The muggle world is growing and expanding and developing at an alarming rate, I think a lot of purebloods and those raised exclusively in the wizarding world automatically dismiss everything muggle because we have been on top for so long. But now they have computers and guns that are pinpoint accurate and bombs and cameras that record everything everywhere all the time.</p><p>"I just worry that while we are squabbling about what magic is acceptable to teach the children, the muggles will find out about us and we won't have a clue how to defend ourselves." Harry finally ran down and flushed as he realised he had been ranting. Alice was laughing at him with her eyes.</p><p>"That was very impassioned Harry, I'm a little overwhelmed to be honest. There was a lot in there that I think we can discuss. But first, let's go to your last point about the type of magic you think we should be teaching the children. Should I take that to mean you do not agree with the current position of the government and the growing legislation against dark magic?" she probed.</p><p>"I believe in the freedom of magic." Harry knew he was getting passionate, the sun streaming through the windows was too warm and abruptly he stood, shucking his robes and rolling back his sleeves so he could lean forward.</p><p>"I believe in freedom of choice. My parents died for me, died to protect me so that I would have a chance to live. I refuse to live anything but my truth. The truth is, is that magic is withering on the vine. Balance exists in nature for a reason. Light and dark, night and day. If the moon went away, we wouldn't have the tides that create the ebb and flow of life on this planet. We need dark magic to continue flourishing as a community. The suppression of the dark, just like the suppression of the light, causes an imbalance which gives rise to rebellion. This is where Dark Lords come from, when there is suppression and fear rather than acceptance and control."</p><p>Alice opened her mouth, no doubt to make some leading statement about him advocating for the dark.</p><p>"Let me say categorically that I am not a supporter of black magic.” Harry cut in before she could. “Voldemort is what happens when you delve into black magic. But there is a difference between the dark of night and the black of the abyss.</p><p>"Dark magic has to do with your core, the magic which comes easier to you. It is defensive and offensive magic. It protects your home from attack, protects yourself, your family from harm. Light magic is about healing, about growing, about creating new life. Magic is men and women, yin and yang. By forcing our society to conform to a particular type of magic you are essentially hobbling part of our population.</p><p>"Black magic, on the other hand, is necromancy, the creation of inferius, it is magic that damages the soul. Black magic is only ever harmful, designed to mutilate the very core of our being. I advocate the control of black magic.</p><p>"I do not advocate blanket legislation against dark magic. In school, we are meant to learn how to practice magic in a safe environment. How can we learn control if the opportunity is never given? This means that some will delve on their own, without support, without the protection of someone saying 'Stop, that is too far'. And so without the voice of reason, they keep going and going and going and end up in black magic, raising inferi and carving their soul into pieces in search for immortality.</p><p>"Would Voldemort have risen if he had someone to tell him to stop? He was an orphan, marooned in the muggle world during the second world war where fear and death were rife. He had no family, no friends, no support. I don't know about you, but I can understand how he sought any means necessary to survive. I wouldn't make those choices, I didn't, but I can understand."</p><p>"Harry, you speak as if you know who Voldemort was. No one has ever been able to find evidence of who he was before his rise." Alice was watching him hungrily, and he knew he had her hooked.</p><p>"Alice, let me tell you a little story, bear with me though, I promise the end is to die for." Harry couldn't resist winking, startling a laugh out of the woman. She settled back in her chair and gestured for him to go on. Producing a notebook, Alice began jotting down a few thoughts, he assumed, and he waited for her to look up again before beginning.</p><p>"In my second year at Hogwarts, the Chamber of Secrets was opened once more on Halloween. Now, at that point, we only knew that the Heir of Slytherin had released the monster within and a cat had been petrified. Throughout the year, more people were petrified, and small titbits of information were fed to me. This culminated just prior to our examination period when a message was written in red paint stating that someone had been taken down into the chamber to die.</p><p>"Now I am paraphrasing a lot. I can't even begin to explain the fear that saturated the castle. It came out that I was a Parselmouth and everyone assumed that I was the heir even though my best friend was a muggleborn. I was unaware of the stigma associated with the gift; snakes had always been kind to me as a child and I was devastated to discover how much I was shunned for something I was born with.” Harry was quiet as he took a sip of his tea.</p><p>"Anyway,” Harry continued “through an impossible amount of sheer dumb luck, I, and my then friend, Ron Weasley figured out the entrance of the chamber. Ginevra Weasley was the one who had been taken down into the chamber and Ron was desperate to get to her.</p><p>"We fetched the then Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Gilderoy Lockhart to help us. He was already packing to leave Hogwarts mind you, coward that he was. Anyway, we proceeded to the entrance, I opened it, and down we went. Lockhart stole Ron's wand and tried to obliviate us, but Ron's wand had been broken at the start of the year and the spell backfired, obliviating the fraud and causing a cave in. I was separated from Ron and Lockhart, who was on the side of the exit while I was closer to the chamber.</p><p>"So I left Ron with an obliviated Lockhart, trying to make a hole in the cave in so I could get back. I went on alone to the Chamber of Secrets." Harry paused, taking a sip of his tea.</p><p>"I feel it is important at this point to remind you that I was twelve at the time. I was entirely alone, far beneath the castle and no one knew where we were. All I had with me was my wand."</p><p>Harry took a shuddering breath, he hated having to talk about this over and over, but this was so very important. "I found Ginny lying in the chamber, she was half dead, but there was nothing I could see causing her to fade. I tried to wake her but was interrupted. It was a boy of about 16, he had short dark hair, dressed in an old fashioned Slytherin robe. He was wearing a prefect badge and he was… Handsome, in a way, I guess."</p><p>Harry shrugged helplessly. "I asked him to help me, his name was Tom as I had found out previously, but he only commented that she would not wake. He started monologuing, because what good villain doesn't monologue?" He threw Alice a wiry smile.</p><p>"Anyway, it came out that he was the Heir of Slytherin through his squib of a mother who fell in love with a muggle. It was he who opened the chamber fifty years prior and again now. He used Ginny, through his diary, to do his bidding. He possessed her. He described himself as 'a memory of his sixteen-year-old self, preserved in the pages of his diary'. Then he took my wand, which I had dropped when I initially ran to Ginny and he wrote in the air something I will never be able to forget. He wrote his full name 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' then he waved the wand, and the letters rearranged themselves. They changed to 'I am Lord Voldemort'."</p>
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<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Part 2 of the interview, as promised.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Harry let the silence hang for a little while, knowing that people often struggled with the identity of who Voldemort had been, before picking the story up once more.</p><p>"We argued and he summoned the monster, which was Salazar's Basilisk. I ran, of course, what else could I do against a 30 ft snake that kills when you look in its eyes. I was twelve and didn't even have a wand. The next moment, Fawkes, Dumbledore’s Phoenix arrived and pecked out its eyes. Fawkes gave me the sorting hat, allowing me to pull the sword of Gryffindor from it.</p><p>"Because it was blind, I survived a little longer, but eventually it cornered me and tried to eat me. I managed to stab the sword through the roof of its mouth, killing it, but unfortunately one of the fangs pierced my arm at the same time. The fang broke off in my arm and I fell, pulling the fang out but it was too late. The poison was already running through my veins. Within seconds I could feel I was dying, but then Fawkes came over and cried into the wound while Riddle gloated over my death until he realised, too late, that I was recovering.</p><p>“While he was raging, inspiration struck, if he was using the diary to feed off Ginny, coming out of the pages and to life as she died, then perhaps if I destroyed the diary, he would die and Ginny would live. So, I grabbed the broken fang and crawled to where the diary lay and stabbed it. I had guessed right. Riddle died, Ginny came back and we all lived happily ever after." Harry finished, winking at Alice who was staring at him in horror.</p><p>"Merlin, Harry, how are you alive?!" She exclaimed after a few moments.</p><p>Harry couldn't help laughing. He asked himself that question often. "Sheer dumb luck." he grinned.</p><p>She blinked at him a few times before turning back to her notes. "Let's talk about something lighter for a minute. You mentioned your found family. Tell me a little of them."</p><p>Harry couldn't help the soft smile that transformed his face as his gaze unconsciously flicked to his wedding band. Alice's eyes widened a little as she jotted a note quickly.</p><p>"I find myself quite blessed now. After my parents died when I was a baby and my mothers' muggle relatives hated me as a child, I never thought I would find a family to call my own. But I have a brother in all but blood in Neville Longbottom. I found a sister in Hermione Granger. My Godfather Sirius Black is more of an uncle than anything else. He reminds me to keep living, you know? The Weasley twins, Fred and George shielded me from life when it became too hard. They cared for me when no one else really did. I surprisingly found friends in Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson.” Harry hesitated, unsure of how to broach the subject of Severus.</p><p>Alice jumped in. "Is there any truth to the rumour of you being bonded prior to the start of your seventh year? Eyewitnesses said that you informed Ginny Weasley at the start of the year that you would not marry her as you were already married but there was little to no evidence of your bonding."</p><p>Harry stared at her defiantly. "I never hid the fact that I was bonded. I was and continue to be very much in love with the man I bonded with for life. In actual fact, Minister Dumbledore was informed of our bonding not two hours after it occurred. I simply elected to keep my husband’s identity a secret to protect us both. What we did was not illegal, in actuality it saved me from a horribly illegal marriage contract that I was going to be forced into." He huffed, slumping back in his chair a little.</p><p>Alice smirked at him and he flushed. "So, Harry, will you share with me, now, the identity of your mysterious saviour?"</p><p>He couldn't help it, he laughed. Her phrasing was utterly perfect. "The only man who ever saved me from anything." he grinned and saw suspicion in her eyes. "None other than Lord Prince himself, Severus Snape."</p><p>She coughed. "Well that's going to go down like a lead balloon." she muttered and flushed when the quill scratched out her comment and he laughed again.</p><p>"Just so." Harry couldn't seem to get the grin off his face.</p><p>"Well, perhaps you should share the story of how you fell in love? When I saw you both in your fifth year you were more amicable than reports from Hogwarts suggested. Was there something happening between you both then?" She asked, cheekily he thought.</p><p>Harry gave her an unimpressed look. "I can categorically say that nothing inappropriate occurred between me and Severus prior to my majority. But, you asked for a story, so you shall have one." The words barely tugged at him. Harry did not believe that their kiss was inappropriate at all. Harry had been expecting death and Severus had offered him what comfort he could. They had been careful to never cross any lines except for that single night.</p><p>"It did begin, of a sort, in my fifth year. You see, following Voldemort's resurrection at the end of my fourth year, I began having visions, glimpses into what was happening, how he was feeling. Nothing to be worried about now, the goblins assured me I have been entirely cleansed of any taint and can produce a document to that effect. Anyway, I saw the attack on Arthur Weasley in a vision just prior to Christmas in my fifth year. Of course I reported it to Dumbledore and Arthur was found and saved in due course. But the important thing was that during the winter break, Dumbledore arranged for me to receive Occlumency lessons from Severus to try and protect my mind from Voldemort once I returned from winter break.</p><p>"So I showed up to my first lesson as directed and proceeded to have my mind raped of my worst memories. Now I know many of you can't imagine I would have many. Sure I had a few confrontations with Voldemort over the years and my parents death as a toddler, but there couldn't really be much to dig through, right?"</p><p>Harry paused, she just kept accidentally asking hard questions. He took a gulp of his tea, fixing another cup while Alice waited impatiently. Harry hated having to talk about his abuse. Severus had spent time after his discovery speaking with Harry and over time he was able to come to accept the truth of his childhood. He had still struggled over the summer when he confronted Ron and Hermione, but he had been far enough along his journey to be able to use it as a weapon against his ex-friend.</p><p>All of that aside, Harry was still uncomfortable talking about his abuse, but it was necessary. Not just as context for his life story, but Harry struggled to believe he was the only muggle raised abused child at Hogwarts. If his story could bring attention to their plight and save some kids from their ongoing abuse, Harry would talk.</p><p>"What most people don't know, is that I am a survivor of child abuse." Harry lifted his chin, daring her to interrupt. "My mother's sister and her family loathed me. Not the kind where you ignore someone and hope they fall off the face of the planet before you have to see them again. Not the kind where you suppress the urge to spit on them because you are in polite company and it is rude no matter how much you want to.</p><p>"No, this was worse. I have met house elves who were treated better than I was as a child. I spelt in the cupboard under the stairs while my cousin had two bedrooms. The second was for his broken toys. When I was tall enough to stand on a step and see the stove, I was ordered to cook for them all. Full English breakfast, roast dinners, good English fair. Not that I ever knew because I was not allowed to eat it. Sometimes I was permitted the scraps from their plates but often it was stale bread and some water.</p><p>“It is thanks to Severus' incredible potions that I am no longer the tiny malnourished skeleton I once was. I remember clearly, the first instance of physical abuse from my aunt, I was about four at that time. It was as I was learning to cook when Petunia, my aunt, struck me with the hot frying pan, for burning the bacon. She didn't like to touch me you see, my aunt thought I was contaminated. She would always use something to hit me with. Vernon, my uncle, liked to use his belt. Dudley, my cousin, used his fists; he aspired to be a boxer.</p><p>“Anyway, I'm getting a little off track. All the chores; cooking, cleaning, laundry, fell to me before I was eight. I kept waiting for Vernon to go too far one day and beat me to death, but he never did. Who would want to give up free labour after all?” Harry paused, seeing the horror mixed with the scepticism in her eyes.</p><p>"Would you like to see?" he offered eventually.</p><p>Her nod was barely a jerk of the head. Harry stood, unbuttoning his shirt and letting it slip from his shoulders and twisting a little so that the light caught across the layers of silver scars tracking his chest and back. He couldn't help glancing towards the camera when it clicked, knowing he looked terribly vulnerable at that moment. The photographer nodded, indicating he got the shot, so Harry could yank his shirt back on, buttoning it quickly.</p><p>"Please don't take my calmness for a blasé attitude. I have had time and help coming to grips with what happened to me. There is not nearly enough awareness of the abuse that muggle-born and muggle raised children suffer. But I was trying to tell you a love story wasn't I?"</p><p>"Yes please," Alice's voice was a little shaky. "We can come back to your childhood later."</p><p>"Perhaps we should book a series of interviews. There is only so much digging through my old hurts I can take in one day." Harry grumbled.</p><p>"Yes!" Alice blurted, looking immediately abashed. "That would work. We can iron out the details after you finish this story." She grinned, unashamed.</p><p>“Anyway, Severus caught enough of my childhood to realise I had been abused and something… changed. I’m not sure what exactly, you would have to ask him, but he eventually approached me about giving me private tuition to help me prepare for the next confrontation with Voldemort. So we proceeded to spend the next six months training before I confronted Voldemort at the Ministry. I won't go into that for now, make that a story for next time. As a child of abuse, I received very little kindness throughout my life. Often people who have no experience or knowledge of it can be… overwhelming to be around. But Severus always respected my personal space, he was always gentle and kind to me. We had to maintain appearances during fifth year as he was still acting as a spy for Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix, but in private he became a safe harbour for me.</p><p>“I was sent back to my relatives following the fall of Voldemort, under the excuse that there were still Death Eaters at large who would want to take me down in revenge for killing their insane master. The few that were not already imprisoned in Azkaban, because as wek both know, most of them, the worst of them, were recaptured by the Ministry following my confrontation with Voldemort. To be honest, I have met a few of them, well the ones that are left, and let me assure you, they are more relieved than the rest of us to see that mad man go.</p><p>“Anyway, Severus helped me heal from the abuse of my relatives when I was finally removed from their care on my sixteenth birthday. He provided specialised potions and salves to repair the damage to my body. Sometime during my sixth year, I realised I was falling in love with him. After Voldemort fell, something in him changed, it was almost as if he exhaled, shucking a heavy coat that was dragging him down and no longer fit.</p><p>“He grew into this incredible man. I let him know, in an appropriate manner, that I had feelings and he agreed that once I graduated, we would pursue a relationship because he refused to be with his student, even if I was of age which I was during my seventh year. I respected that, of course, how could I not? So we maintained an amicable friendship throughout my sixth year but always ensuring that no boundaries were crossed.”</p><p>Harry sighed heavily again, growing agitated as he remembered the summer before his seventh year. Rising, he began pacing a little, trying to rid himself of the restless energy coursing through his veins. He had been so stressed and anxious in the lead up to his birthday; it had ruined everything. He hadn’t celebrated his coming of age, not his marriage to Severus. Harry stilled for a moment, realising their bonding had gone unremarked this year as well before casting the thought aside to refocus. He was telling an important story, he could worry about his marriage later.</p><p>“I refused to return to my relatives between my sixth and seventh years. No one said I had to, no one tried to make me, so I went to Gringotts and used some of my trust fund to rent a hotel room and stayed there with the intent that once I turned seventeen, I would go to Gringotts and see what properties I had were habitable and move into one of those. Once I turned seventeen I would have access to the full Potter estate, so it wouldn’t be the end of the world if I blew the remainder of my trust fund on staying away from my abusive relatives.</p><p>“Things started feeling a little wrong when I went to see the Weasley Twins. They warned me that Ginny and Mrs Weasley were planning a wedding between me and Ginny, and that Ginny and I had been carrying on a secret relationship. I, of course, am quite terribly gay, so the idea is entirely preposterous.” Harry gestured wildly, raking his hands through his hair so it fell loose around his shoulders.</p><p>“Then I got a letter from Minister Dumbledore asking to have lunch with me on my birthday. He informed me during lunch of Ginny’s pregnancy and how it was now my responsibility to make an honest woman out of her and ensure my heir was not a bastard. He did not take kindly to me telling him that I had never dated or touched Ginny in any sort of intimate manner so if she claimed the child was mine, then I would insist on a paternity test. This was the first time he tried a legillimency attack on me.” He bared his teeth in rage, remembering the headache he had gotten from the mental beat down.</p><p>“I went to leave and he insisted on going with me to Gringotts to claim my inheritance, in the process admitting he was my Magical Guardian and that telling me of my inheritance had ‘slipped his mind’.” Harry was unable to suppress the derisive snort that slipped out.</p><p>“Now, because the Twins had warned me, because I got that letter from Dumbledore, I had gone to Gringotts first thing in the morning on my birthday and claimed my Lordships. I found the horribly illegal marriage contract he and Molly had drafted for myself and Ginny. It would have bound me in servitude to their house and allowed Ginny to take complete control of the Potter estate. So my account manager looked through all of the other marriage and betrothal contracts that existed that related to my houses and he found one that could be used. There existed a betrothal contract between the house of Black and the house of Prince that remained unfulfilled.” Harry resumed his pacing, remembering how nervous and worried he had been.</p><p>“So we called in the Prince Lord, asking that he make haste. I was just hoping it was someone that I could tolerate for the betrothal period so that I could find another solution to being coerced into signing an illegal marriage contract between myself and Ginny.</p><p>“But then Severus stepped through the door. After a bit of discussion, we agreed to bond right away. We called in a friend of ours who officiated and that was that. I went to lunch with Dumbledore, he dragged me back to Gringotts, furious to discover that I was already bonded and I wouldn’t tell him who my partner was. He tried to force me into handing over control of the Potter estate to him, and to permit him to become proxy of my seats. I already had my goblin account manager whom I trusted, so there was no chance I was handing over my estates. And it is actually illegal for the Minister to act as proxy for anyone. They can only hold their house seats and their ministerial seat.</p><p>“Anyway, I have gotten off topic once again. Severus and I bonded, he proposed, and I moved in with him. I had nowhere else in particular that I wanted to go instead and his home, our home now, is beautiful. We agreed that it would not go well, revealing our relationship while I was at Hogwarts. We arranged for Madame Pomfrey to review all of my potions work so that there would be no question of favouritism should it arise.</p><p>“But what I’m sure you really want to know is, how is it? I know Severus’ reputation, he can be cruel, sarcastic and was a known Death Eater. I was well aware of his history when I fell in love with him. Hell, I’m pretty sure I received some of the worst treatment at his hands compared to others. Up until he realised what my life was really like, he hated me, and it was difficult to overcome five years of habits.” Harry grinned, seeing Alice’s impatience for him to give her some juicy details.</p><p>“I am not a romantic, neither is Severus.” Harry stated finally. “We have taken the time to know each other, and we appreciate having a partner who understands us so deeply. He is distractible and passionate, he is cutting and kind, he is… an artwork of contrasts, cruelty and beauty. He can get so lost in his potions research that he sometimes forgets I’m there, but when he remembers, boy.” Harry flushed a little at the most recent memory of his husband’s affection. “He is not demanding but is understanding. He doesn’t begrudge me my insecurities and I don’t begrudge him his failings.”</p><p>Harry frowned, he couldn’t help but feel like he was failing at fully encompassing their relationship, all of the perfect imperfections that made it up. “Love does not change who you are, but it opens the door for you to be a better version of yourself. He makes me stronger, braver, more determined in my convictions. I make him kinder, more considerate; I remind him that there is a world outside of potions and sarcasm.”</p><p>He made a frustrated noise and finally looked to Alice who was sitting there, watching him dreamily. Harry blinked. “I am not sure there are words to explain what we found in each other. I found home, and I think he did too.” He shrugged helplessly before throwing himself down in his chair, one leg over an arm. He was entirely unaware of how he looked, an indulgent lord, relaxing in the afternoon sun. The photographer snuck a shot, Harry's hair tumbled around his shoulders, shirt still rumpled from when he had taken it off. The cuffs were rolled up, showing off his muscled forearms. There was a trace of frustration around his mouth, but affection in his eyes. Alice continued sitting there, just staring at him wistfully while the quill finished off his final statements.</p><p>Eventually, Harry frowned. “Did you have any more questions today?”</p><p>Alice jerked, blinking rapidly before flushing a little. “No, thank you, Harry, I think that is enough to be going on with for now. Can I meet you in a fortnight? The same day, I’ll come to you if you like, say 10 am?”</p><p>Harry rubbed a finger over his lips, thinking, before nodding. “That should work. Once you turn the dictaquill off I’ll tell you our floo address. Don’t write it down, please. I’ll open the access for you five minutes before 10 am. If you have not arrived by 5 minutes after, I will close the floo and you will have to owl me to organise another time.”</p><p>“Of course.” She rose and so did Harry.</p><p>“Please owl me the article and photos before it goes to print, just so that I know what to expect please.” He asked as they shook hands.</p><p>“Of course, Harry. Let me know if you have any significant issues with what I write.” She smiled at him fondly.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Now, as I am editing this Part of the story, I might disappear for a little while until I finish reviewing Part 7, hopefully it won't be for too long though.</p><p>This is why I try and stop myself from posting WIP's, but I thought 2 parts ahead of what I'm currently posting would be enough. Evidently not... Anyway, thanks for your patience!</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Yay I have (once again) finished Part 7, editing was a little crazy, and Draco kept shouting to me about ice skating for a different story, but he finally shut up and I figured out the last sticky bit for this part, so happy days! On the upside, I have added a whole extra chapter :D</p><p>Thank you for all the lovely comments, I appreciate them, and I definitely read them all. In case it was unclear, just because Harry spoke about something in his interview with Alice doesn't mean it will end up in an article. There will be a series of articles written and referenced throughout this Part based on the interview or on subsequent 'interviews' which I will not be writing out. I try to avoid repeating myself too much, but this first article is pretty heavy on the copy+paste from the interview.</p><p>Warnings for discussion of child abuse.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/><p>
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    <em>Lord Potter, Youngest Wizengamot Member, Boy-Who-Lived, Child of Abuse</em>
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  <em>A few days ago, I was invited to sit with the newest Lord Potter for an interview. Originally, I was not meant to host the interview, so I had very little prepared. I will be honest with you, Britain's Wizarding Public, the stories one Lord Harry James Potter shared with me were not something that could be prepared for.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I will be writing a series of articles, sharing the intimate details of Lord Potter’s life and how he came to be the man he is today. The details will be shocking, in the least, but what I can say, is that there will be no lies, no exaggerations, only truth.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I found Lord Potter to be surprisingly humble, open and honest. Immediately, he invited me to call him ‘Harry’ and laughed when I posed a rather difficult opening statement. I would like it noted that I used a dictaquill to record our conversation, the transcript of which will be available to the public once the relevant articles have been released.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Today I am here with Lord Harry Potter, once proclaimed to be The-Boy-Who-Lived and currently the youngest sitting member of the Wizengamot. I must ask, how does it feel being in a position where the things you do and say can impact the functioning of our society. It is a lot of responsibility for someone so young to handle.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>This was off the back of Lord Potters comments to the media following his first official Wizengamot session wherein he expressed concerns over how worn and tired the Minister for Magic, Albus Dumbledore appeared lately.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Lord Potter’s response was enlightening and modest, not what one would expect from the head of an ancient and noble house. "It is a heady feeling. It’s a lot of responsibility, but I feel like I am uniquely positioned to handle it. I'm not saying I can do it on my own; I have an excellent support system in my found family as I like to think of them.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I feel like my age and life experience can be an asset, you know?” Harry went on, “A fresh voice in a room of men who have been having the same conversations for thirty years. A lot has changed in that time and it worries me that those in power have been unaware of the change. I am not saying that they are wrong, or stale or anything of the sort. It’s just, when you are tackling messy societal issues, sometimes a fresh perspective can trigger inspiration, a new solution. I have immense respect for the men who have been running out community since it was established. I cannot stress that enough. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>But Lord Potter’s position on the Wizengamot and his attitudes towards the direction Magical Britain is moving in are not the subject of this particular article. That came later in the conversation, the context of which will be covered in the next article, and I promise you, that revelation will have you all screaming.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It was discovered, during Lord Potter’s fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, by a member of the staff who will remain currently unnamed, that Lord Potter was the child of abuse. Unfortunately, no one else was willing to listen, as so often happens with children not born and raised into the wizarding world. Children, to us magicals, are sacred and the idea of hurting them is abhorrent. We are only too ready to forget the hatred and fear suffered during the witch hunts where anyone suspected of witchcraft were persecuted. We fail to imagine what muggles are willing to do when faced with the hard reality that magic exists.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"What most people don't know, is that I am a survivor of child abuse." I remember Lord Potter staring defiantly at me, while he shared his story of horror and pain. "My mother's sister and her family loathed me… I have met house elves who were treated better than I was as a child. I slept in the cupboard under the stairs while my cousin had two bedrooms. The second was for his broken toys. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“When I was tall enough to stand on a step and see the stove, I was ordered to cook for them all. Full English breakfast, roast dinners, good English fair. Not that I ever knew because I was not allowed to eat it. Sometimes I was permitted the scraps from their plates but often it was stale bread and some water.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I remember clearly, the first instance of physical abuse from my aunt, I was about four at that time. It was as I was learning to cook when Petunia, my aunt, struck me with the hot frying pan, for burning the bacon. She didn't like to touch me you see, my aunt thought I was contaminated. She would always use something to hit me with. Vernon, my uncle, liked to use his belt. Dudley, my cousin, used his fists; he aspired to be a boxer.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“All the chores; cooking, cleaning, laundry, fell to me before I was eight. I kept waiting for Vernon to go too far one day and beat me to death, but he never did. Who would want to give up free labour after all?” Lord Potter had paused at that moment, and I’m not sure what he could see in my face, because his next words were a question that would rock my world.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Would you like to see?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I consented, of course, what self-respecting reporter would not want to see proof of such an outrageous allegation. Lord Potter rose and, with little hesitation, stripped away his shirt, revealing layers upon layers of scar tissue, running up and down his chest and back. The photograph, which he consented to be published, is on the following page and has been charmed so that those under the age of sixteen are not able to see.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Lord Potter even provided me with a copy of a medical scan, completed and certified by the goblins which prove the life of abuse and cruelty under which he has suffered for fifteen long years. It was his final comment on the matter, which chilled me.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Please don't take my calmness for a blasé attitude. I have had time and help coming to grips with what happened to me. There is not nearly enough awareness of the abuse that muggle-born and muggle raised children suffer.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>So, this intrepid reporter decided to do some research, investigating the muggleborn and half-bloods of our community and the results were alarming. There is a book in the Ministry which logs accidental magic, including the name of the child responsible. When cross-referenced with the admittance and graduation lists of Hogwarts students, an alarming trend appeared.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>One in twenty muggleborn and half-blood children never make it to eleven so that they may receive their Hogwarts letter. They died in ‘accidents’; were beaten to death, were abandoned on the streets never to be seen again, were institutionalised and medicated until their magic stopped presenting. This runs the risk of creating an obscurial, which would threated or reveal our way of life.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Of those nineteen remaining muggleborn and half-blood children, on average, three will never graduate from Hogwarts. They simply did not turn up after a summer break, instead vanishing from our world forever.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>My fellow Witches and Wizards, we are haemorrhaging magical blood. They are dying at the hands of fearful muggles. I am not suggesting we attack the muggles, seek revenge or other impractical options. Instead, perhaps we should have methods of ensuring our precious children are safe from abuse and cruelty at the hands of those who should be caring for them. Eleven is clearly too late to be making initial contact with magical children not born into our community, I call upon the members of the Wizengamot, our politicians, our people, save our children. Stop turning a blind eye just because you struggle to believe abuse exists. Protect them as they should have been protected all along.</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Severus could not stop staring at the photo which accompanied the article on Harry's abuse. You could see the sunlight glinting off the scars, where they layered over his skin. In the photo, he would shift a little, allowing the light to skitter along the lines, before Harry would glance up at the camera, eyes pained and vulnerable.</p><p>He knew more of the details and the horrific realities of what Harry suffered than anyone else. Severus had witnessed the memories after all. But like Harry, it had been a long time ago, he had gotten used to it, in a sense, and no longer saw the damage. </p><p>Tracing a finger over the photo, Severus wondered if he could improve the standard scar removal potion so it would work with something as old and deep as what Harry bore. Immediately his mind began tracking through different ingredients and their combinations to improve the potion, perhaps a salve would work better, repeated applications might be needed.</p><p>Severus was jerked from his thoughts by Harry settling next to him at the breakfast table.</p><p>“We need to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.” He commented, passing over the paper to Harry.</p><p>The younger man hummed as he flipped it open, scanning the article, glancing at the photo before closing it once more and pushing it away.</p><p>“Yes, did you have an idea?” Harry asked as he fixed a cup of tea.</p><p>“We should prepare a bill for the next session, one for the protection of the children, set up an orphanage, a private one if we have to, if the Ministry won't fund it. Perhaps one of us has a property that can be put up for use, even temporarily. We have methods of tracking indicents  of accidental magic, now we need to institute monitoring for children from the first instance of magic onwards. We need channels in place so that if there is evidence of abuse they can be removed from the family and the muggles obliviated so that they cannot hurt anyone or reveal our existence.” Severus mused.</p><p>“I agree, I have been considering what we could do since the interview. I was thinking that it might be a good use of the Gaunt land. There is nothing but a shack on it, it is a fairly decent swath of mostly scrubland, so it should be easy to work with. I will write to Selwyn and see what he thinks of it. He has been a little frustrated lately, The Peverell properties are all restored, the Black and Slytherin properties are both being reviewed by the Dark Arts expert so he is stuck working on the Gryffindor properties. Apparently the previous decorator believed that red and gold were the only colours that could be used.” Harry chuckled as Severus’ expression of revulsion. “I’m sure he would appreciate a fresh challenge.”</p><p>“I will speak with Lucius about the bill.” Severus replied, changing the topic away from poor decorating choices. “He has more practise preparing them, so perhaps he can give me some advice on making sure it will adhere to the required protocols.”</p><p>“He would also know about any legislation that is currently in place. You should make sure you are either amending or superseding anything that is active.”</p><p>The remainder of breakfast drifted by with the pair eating in comfortable peace. Severus was filled with surprising energy, determined to have something ready for the next session which was now only two weeks away. Moving to the floo, he called for the Malfoy French manor. Thrusting his head into the fire, he waited for an elf to greet him.</p><p>“Good morning, is Lucius available, I wanted his advice on a matter.” He requested politely.</p><p>The elf nodded and popped away. A few minutes later, Lucius strolled into the room and Severus was vividly reminded of a very different firecall last summer.</p><p>“Ah Severus, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Lucius asked, surprisingly genial.</p><p>“Have you seen the Prophet this morning?” Severus waited for the other man’s nod. “I wanted your advice on preparing a bill, I wanted to present it at the next session. Can I come through?”</p><p>“Of course,” Lucius waited for Severus to step through the fire before heading towards his office.</p><p>Settling down at his desk, Lucius extracted a parchment and a quill. “Alright Severus, talk to me about what you want to accomplish.”</p><p>“The Ministry is able to monitor accidental magic, so we should have a department that goes to check on the child and their family as soon as the first instance occurs. The worker should explain about magic and check to ensure the family is prepared to handle it. We should schedule regular meetings to see whether the family is coping or not.</p><p>“We should create provisions to provide them with assistance and support; education from an early age is important.” Severus mentally ticked the items off his list. There was a lot that was needed to reform their system. The government had very little in place to support their children, as far as he was aware, which was honestly insane considering how cherished they were.</p><p>“Purebloods are always so far ahead of muggle raised children, and muggles have their children in school from age five, so I don’t see why we shouldn’t begin then, perhaps with a primary school of our own rather than parents having to pay for private tutors. If we keep the classes small, there would be little detriment as the children will be socialised with each other and develop friendships while being challenged in a group environment to try harder.</p><p>“Of course we won’t have any of them actively using magic, but we can teach them about our society, we can teach them basic magical theory, we can prepare them for school and magical use at age eleven when their cores are ready. We could also include English, Latin, mathematics, geography and penmanship as all children need to be taught these skills.</p><p>“We also need to have a section for when we deem the family is unsuitable to care for a magical child. Should we have a department set up in the Ministry to handle their immediate adoption into a magical family? What if there is no magical family interested? Maybe we need a home for the children, somewhere they can stay and live and learn. A safe haven for them.”</p><p>Lucius nodded along, jotting down notes as Severus spoke, already mentally drafting the different sections of the bill and how it would work together.</p><hr/><p>In the intervening weeks between Harry’s first interview with Alice and the second Wizengamot session, things continued along as well as could be expected. Training with the goblins was difficult but rewarding. Severus had been busy brewing and was working closely with Lucius to prepare his proposal.</p><p>The reaction to Alice’s article on Harry’s abuse was unfortunately small. Most still seemed to think that Harry was an anomaly; witches and wizards struggling to believe that anyone could abuse a child let alone Harry. They remained convinced that Harry was an outlier and Alice’s statistics were skewed and alarmist. He was half convinced the ministry were secretly supporting this position. Many believed that if Harry had truly been abused, Dumbledore would have done something about it. Harry couldn’t wait until that particular house of cards fell. The stubborn belief of the magical population that Dumbledore was still the be all and end all of wisdom was irritating in the extreme.</p><p>Alice had released a few extra pieces, one of them about his friendship with Draco and the blonde’s experience as a displaced Slytherin in his final year at Hogwarts. Letters flooded the Prophet, some praising Draco’s courage in speaking out against the discrimination that the dark were currently suffering under, exemplified by the disbandment of Slytherin house at Hogwarts. Others disparaged his experience, telling Draco to stop whinging, pointing out that he was wealthy and titled, the heir to the Malfoy fortune and there was little in his life that could be <em>that </em>difficult. It was exciting that the conversation was happening in such a public forum, even if some missed the point of it all.</p><p>Alice also did a puff piece about Harry, Hermione and Neville’s friendship. Talking about where they were now; Harry with his training to be a Cursebreaker, often considered to be one of the magical elite of their society. Hermione working in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures doing everything she could to learn and beginning to make waves championing the rights of non-human magicals. Neville, of course, was apprenticing under Professor Sprout at Hogwarts, he was known as a Herbology prodigy and was revolutionising the green houses at the school, increasing their yield exponentially.</p><p>She had even asked Neville how Ron Weasley was doing, now that he could finally return to Hogwarts to complete his education. Neville refrained form commenting; the reality was that Ron’s mind healing sessions and community service seemed to have made some impact on the wizard. In the few weeks he had been back at Hogwarts, the red head seemed solely focused on being the best quidditch keeper he could. Ron was doing well enough in his classes to ensure his position on the team was secure but no more. It seemed the man had decided he would be the next keeper for the Chudley Cannons. They wished him luck (well, Hermione didn’t but who could blame her), but had no interest in having anything to do with him.</p><p>The Weasley name had taken a beating over the past few months what with Ron’s suspension, Ginny being institutionalised and Molly being incarcerated. The twins had indicated that Arthur was spending time at St Mungo’s being cleansed and going through intensive mind healing for the betrayal he had suffered. Charlie couldn’t get away from work, nor could Bill, so the Twins were doing what they could to support Arthur. Percy was still so deep in Dumbledore’s pocket that he probably ate lint for breakfast. While the older man was apparently sympathetic to the plight of the rest of his family, Percy seemed more concerned over maintaining his reputation with the ministry than anything else.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So I am apparently terribly out of practice for posting regularly... Sorry? I have been editing Part 8, which is going well, lots of new content getting added in and I'm starting to try and figure out how I'm going to do a trial for Dumbledore. I hope that isn't a spoiler? I feel like at this point there has to be some kind of showdown between Harry and Dumbledore, that's sort of a given right? Anyway, I wanted to keep with the whole political/legal thing, so was planning on writing a trial, or excerpts of a trial, but it is entirely daunting. I would hate for us all to get this far along, and have a disappointing resolution... Anyway, I'm sure I'll figure it out!</p><p>Sorry about the weird formatting for the legislation, it does not translate well from word to the site...</p><p>Thanks for all the comments though guys, I do read them, I promise :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/><p>“Welcome back, members of the Wizengamot. We are sitting once more for the October session of 1998, do we have any announcements?” Greengrass opened the second session of the season.</p><p>Harry waited to see if anyone else would speak and after a few moments, rose from his seat on the second top row of the light faction.</p><p>“Chief Warlock Greengrass, I would like to officially reallocate my seats to the neutral party.” Whispers immediately sprung up around him, some of those sitting in the seats nearby glared at him. “Historically while the Potters have been light oriented, their preferences by today’s standards would now be considered neutral. I am no longer able to support the light agenda and as such, intend to allocate my seats to the Neutral Party.”</p><p>“Harry!” Dumbledore exclaimed, looking worried. “Is this wise? You have only just started in the Wizengamot, is it not hasty to change your seat after sitting for a single session when the Potter’s have been bastions of the light since the beginning?!”</p><p>The old man had risen, expression stricken, hand outstretched. He was the absolute picture of a worried grandfather, it made Harry sick to see. It made him angry to hear the murmurs of agreement from the men around him.</p><p>Harry straightened, making his way down the stairs with measured steps. “On my seventeenth birthday, I was accepted by house magic as the Lord of my family line. If I was seen as unworthy or not ready, this would not have happened, as you well know. Last month, I stood before the Wizengamot and accepted my place here among you all, as law makers. I was accepted by the magic of this room and by you all when no one voiced an objection before I took my oath. Are you now saying this was wrong? That magic is wrong for accepting me as a Lord?” Harry asked finally, stopping in the centre of the floor.</p><p>“No my boy,” Dumbledore replied, “I am just concerned at your decision to change factions. Perhaps you have not considered the significance of the choice?” He pressed, his façade genial and concerned, but Harry could see the rage in his eyes.</p><p>“I have reviewed the policies and positions of the light, as well as the historical voting preferences of my family and stand by my decision. While the Potter’s were always light wing, the radical stance of the current light regime was something we always voted against. As such, I have made the choice to reallocate to the neutral faction which aligns closer with our historical position. Now, if you would stop interfering in matters of which you have no place commenting, I would like to continue.”</p><p>Harry turned from rage filled blue eyes to look at Yarrow who seemed worried. “Chief Warlock Greengrass, I would like to officially reallocate the Potter seat to the neutral party.”</p><p>“Of course Lord Potter, that is your prerogative.” The Chief Warlock cracked his gavel down, cutting through the angry muttering which had been rising since harry had dismissed Dumbledore so roughly.</p><p>Harry made his way up the neutral party stairs, where magic had lit up a seat one above Severus and next to Neville for him, Dumbledore caught his eye. His expression was cold, filled with ice. Harry felt a chill run down his spine but ignored it in favour of striding to the top. </p><p>How it must gall Dumbledore to have Harry stand against him. Harry had meant to be his perfect tool, but he had won against Voldemort too soon, and now Harry was acting as the voice of reason against his extreme light views. He hadn’t spoken to Dumbledore since his Seventeenth birthday, but Harry knew that the man had been watching him, quietly, from the shadows. Harry understood he had to be careful, Dumbledore would take any weakness to strike him down, especially now that Harry was moving against him. Dumbledore, no doubt, saw Harry’s reallocation of his seats as a betrayal. He would just have to be cautious moving forward, to be sure of each step he took.</p><p>“If there are no other opening matters for discussion, I propose we review the bills raised during our previous session. Lord Fawley, if you could please re-read the amendment to the Regulation and Control of Harmful Dark and Black Magicks bill of 1402 that you proposed?” Greengrass requested.</p><p>They all listened politely as the amendment for imposing further restrictions on Dark Artefacts and Heirlooms was re-read, then the floor was opened to debate.</p><p>“The bill is far too vague, it opens the door to abuse of powers by Aurors!” Sirius exclaimed, and there were some grumbles of agreement from the Neutral faction. “We have already seen how far things can go already, do we really want to make it worse?”</p><p>Fawley scoffed. “Nonsense, it will reduce the amount of red tape that Aurors have to suffer through when acting on tips of dark artefacts and terrorism. The continued presence of the dark in Britain,” Here, he sneered at Sirius who bared his teeth. “remains a threat, as such, we are empowering our Aurors to do what needs to be done to protect our people.”</p><p>Sirius barked a laugh. “What threat does the dark pose? Aren’t they our people too, even though you have done so well driving them out.”</p><p>Fawley sneered. “You-Know-Who was not that long ago! We must make sure another does not rise in his place, we cannot survive another Dark Lord!”</p><p>“And you honestly think suppression and control, alienating the dark, is the way to prevent the rise of another Dark Lord?” Sirius exclaimed.</p><p>Greengrass banged his gavel, cutting off what was probably going to be a lengthy argument unrelated to the topic at hand. “If we can put aside the bickering, does anyone have any legitimate suggestions on changing the bill?”</p><p>“There is already provision under the bill for legal search and seizure of dangerous artefacts when genuine suspicion exists. Why do Aurors need further permission to do more with less?” Sirius demanded.</p><p>Lord Diggory rose. “Aurors need the freedom to ensure the safery of our people. Many do not realise how dangerous old heirlooms can be. This just means that Aurors have the ability to remove anything suspicious they come across during their standard search and seizure. Previously, these dangerous heirlooms and artefacts were protected by house magic. We just want to make sure that no one is being hurt by some old heirloom that they weren’t even aware of being malicious.”</p><p>They argued back and forth for a while; the Chief Warlock forced to intervene several times as tempers flared. It was difficult for Sirius, trying to carry the argument against the amendment alone, while the Light were numerous, and the neutral faction were hesitant. Eventually, defeat was conceded, those who didn't support the bill just didn’t have the support, yet.</p><p>“I propose we move to vote for the amendment, will anyone second the motion?” Greengrass sighed.</p><p>“I second the motion.” Lord Macmillan stood.</p><p>“Excellent, we will need a majority vote. Please light your wands for those supporting this amendment to the Regulation and Control of Harmful Dark and Black Magicks bill of 1402.” Greengrass requested.</p><p>In that moment, Harry could feel fingers brushing against his mind and alarm washed over him. Something was wrong, magic was invading his occlumency shields, weaving through his defences to penetrate his mind. No one knew that he had planned to switch seats today, so he didn’t think he had been spelled or potioned. Regardless, his Lordship rings protected him from the majority of mind controlling substances. Skimming through a mental list Severus had provided him with of the most likely substances he was not protected for, he remembered there were a few contact potions which managed to work around the protections inherent in his lordship.</p><p>Looking around, he could see the neutral faction all lighting their wands in favour of the amendment, even Severus and Neville were, but neither seemed to think anything against it.</p><p>There was something wrong with the neutral seats, there was a pressure, subtle but insistent, pushing him to vote for the bill. If Harry hadn’t recently worked on increasing the sensitivity of his mind shields with the goblins, he imagined he would have missed it. He tried to fight it, but he felt his hand raising, his wand tip lighting so that he would vote in support of the legislation he hated.</p><p>Harry looked to Sirius, expression filled with horror at what he was doing. Sirius’ face shifted from confusion to alarm when he realised that Harry was not in control of his own actions.</p><p>“Please light your wand for those voting against the bill.” Greengrass continued, unaware of the turmoil occurring behind him.</p><p>There was nothing Harry could do, the spells required to diagnose the possible potion contamination had been marked as illegal except for the Unspeakables, and as no one else seemed to notice the problem, he must be the only one who had felt the touch of compulsion. Most of the Wizengamot members didn’t have traditional day jobs, let alone being a Cursebreaker. His word alone would not be enough for the Wizengamot to call in the Unspeakables to investigate. Dumbledore would again call into question his age and experience, weakening their position. Fury thrummed through Harry.</p><p>It was only a matter of moments for Greengrass to count the votes. “We have fifty votes for and forty-nine against. As such, the Dark Artefacts and Heirlooms Amendment to the Regulation and Control of Harmful Dark and Black Magics Bill of 1402 has passed. It will be formally ratified into legislation tomorrow with the dawn as protocol dictates.”</p><p>Greengrass continued discussing another few minor points from the previous session. Harry was mentally reeling, by switching his seat to the neutral party, he had been forced to vote for something he normally wouldn't have. It was disturbing to realise the bill didn’t have as much support as they had thought. If Harry hadn’t been forced to vote in favour, the bill wouldn’t have passed. He couldn’t help but wonder how many bills had been pushed through because people had been compelled to vote in a particular way.</p><p>He was pulled from his thoughts when Severus rose, a sheaf of parchment in his hands. "Thank you Chief Warlock Greengrass,” Severus magicked the parchments to duplicate themselves as protocol dictated, one set going to each member of the chamber. “I would like to present a proposal to protect the magical children of Britain. I will read the bill now. This is a bill to:</p><p> </p><p>Make provision in the law relating to children; to provide for local authority services for children in need and others; to provide for children’s homes; to make provision with respect to fostering and adoption, and for connected purposes.</p><p>Be it enacted by Lady Magic, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords of the Land, in this present Wizengamot assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: —</p><ul>
<li>
<strong>A new department within the British Ministry of Magic will be created for the sole purpose of watching over, caring for, and guiding the magical children</strong> <strong>under the care of the British Ministry of Magic</strong>
<ul>
<li>This department will take over control of the monitoring of accidental magic, specifically with relation to first instances of accidental magic
<ul>
<li>Contact will be made within 48 hours of the first instance of accidental magic</li>
<li>Contact will consist of a home visit by a department employee</li>
<li>Department employees should be suitably qualified to explain the existence of magic, the significance of the Statute of Secrecy and be able to assess the living environment of the magical child/children, testing may be carried out on other children within the household to ascertain if they are also magical and thus fall under our purview</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul><p> </p><ul>
<li>
<strong>Following the first instance of accidental magic in a child under the care of the British Ministry of Magic </strong>
<ul>
<li>The department will communicate with the caretakers or families of the magical child/children with regards to magic and its impact on the magical child/children’s life
<ul>
<li>An explanation will include, but is not limited to a demonstration of magic and explanation of the schooling system with appropriate literature provided</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>The department will assess the environment under which the magical child/children lives and will make a decision on the suitability of said environment
<ul>
<li>Magical child/children should be provided with sufficient shelter and food, as well as clothing and other necessities as required.</li>
<li>Magical child/children should be provided with an environment under which their magical abilities should be permitted to flourish and grow</li>
<li>Magical child/children should be provided with an environment under which they do not suffer abuse to their person, including but not limited to physical, emotional and psychological abuse</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul><ul>
<li>
<ul>
<li>The department will continue monitoring the magical child/children until such a time as they reach their majority to ensure that the situation does not shift from what is deemed to be acceptable.
<ul>
<li>Regular home visits will be carried out by a suitably qualified department employee</li>
<li>Home visits should occur once a month for the first six months following the incident of accidental magic, reducing to every two months for the next six months, reducing to every three months until such a time as the magical child/children are due to attend magical schooling or reach the age of eleven.</li>
<li>Once a child reaches the age of eleven, visits will occur once yearly during the summer break and will continue until the magical child/children reach their majority.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul><p> </p><ul>
<li>
<strong>Should the department decide that the situation is not safe for the magical child/children to remain</strong>
<ul>
<li>The department will act to remove the magical child/children in a timely manner.
<ul>
<li>Should the magical child/children fear for their lives, the magical child/children shall be removed immediately into Ministry custody. Following the emergency removal of the magical child/children, the ministry will arrange for their placement within 7 days either with an eligible magical family or in a ministry sanctioned home, or other home as agreed with all parties</li>
<li>Should the situation not require immediate action, the magical child/children shall be removed from the unsafe environment within 7 days of the initial report and placed into custody as arranged by the department with an eligible magical family or in a ministry sanctioned home, or other home as agreed with all parties</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul><p> </p><ul>
<li>
<strong>The department will assist with funding and running a ministry sanctioned home wherein magical child/children may reside until such a time as they reach their majority or a suitable magical family elects to adopt them</strong>
<ul>
<li>The home will provide a safe environment under which the magical child/children may live and learn
<ul>
<li>Magical child/children should be provided with sufficient shelter and food, as well as clothing and other necessities as required.</li>
<li>Magical child/children should be provided with an environment under which their magical abilities should be permitted to flourish and grow</li>
<li>Magical child/children should be provided with an environment under which they do not suffer abuse to their person, including but not limited to physical, emotional and psychological abuses</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul><ul>
<li>
<ul>
<li>The home shall be monitored by the department to ensure that it remains a safe environment for the magical child/children</li>
<li>Should a suitable magical family offer to adopt the child, their home and lives shall be reviewed to ensure that the conditions listed in section 4 a and its subsections are met.
<ul>
<li>The family’s finances shall also be reviewed to ensure that they are able to support a child until they reach their majority.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul><p> </p><p>As soon as Severus finished speaking, Fawley rose. "This is sensationalist nonsense, incited by a child who missed the limelight from his infancy and is seeking public validation. We should not even bother entertaining this garbage, the children are not at risk and I do not see why we need to waste Ministry resources on something unnecessary."</p><p>Severus' voice was icy as he glared at the leader of the light faction. "If you had permitted me to explain the packets in front of you all, I would have advised that I contacted the reporter who raised the issue and investigated the validity of the data cited. Behind the bill you will find copies of the historical data for the last fifty years from both the ministry's initial accidental magic log, as well as the admittance and graduation logs from Hogwarts for the same time period.</p><p>"The reporters’ findings were generally accurate. There is a definite trend where we are losing magical children. Granted, a minor percentage leave the country with their parents and possibly transfer to a different magical school, but a significant proportion die or are admitted to a muggle mental hospital where they waste away and inevitably die there."</p><p>Severus took a breath, glaring once more when Fawley opened his mouth to argue. "If you are not willing to consider the bill as is, I propose a taskforce is set up to investigate my findings who can then submit their report in the next session. My only request is that the taskforce include a representative from each faction so that the findings are balanced."</p><p>Fawley settled down to flick through the data, sniffing dismissively. "Set up the taskforce if you must," he waved from his chair, not bothering to rise, "nothing will be found so it should be volunteer only, neither Lord Prince nor Lord Potter should be able to participate to prevent skewing of the findings. If you cannot get one from each faction, the taskforce cannot be formed, and your bill will fail." He glared maliciously at Severus who ignored him.</p><p>"I call for volunteers for the taskforce investigating the abuse of muggle raised children." Greengrass called.</p><p>There were a few beats of silence before Sirius stood "As the only representative left for the dark, I volunteer."</p><p>The next moment, the head of the McGonagall family stood, "I do not believe in the claims, but if there is any risk to children, I believe it should be investigated for the light."</p><p>The head of house Bones rose next. "I volunteer for the neutral."</p><p>Fawley looked decidedly sour but could not protest as Greengrass cracked his gavel down. "The taskforce has been set. You have one month to investigate the allegations and you will share your findings at the next session. Shall we move on to the next order of business?”</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Remus Lupin: Werewolf and spokesman for Creature Sponsorship Program Speaks Out!</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Two years on from the controversial legislation which allowed Dark creatures to once more participate in our society, there had not been an increase in creature violence, proving that old prejudices should be left in the past. We sat down with the poster boy creature of the light faction; Remus Lupin, to discuss his life before and after the sponsorship program.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Benjamin McDonald:</em>
  </strong>
  <em> You were granted your post at Hogwarts following the legislation change not only as the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, but also Head of Gryffindor House. How was that?</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Remus Lupin: </em>
  </strong>
  <em>It was a shock. I had been unemployed since my first sting at DADA Professor two years prior. After it had been leaked about my status as a werewolf, I resigned, but was unable to find other employment. It was… difficult to survive the next two years. I had a few friends though, who let me stay with them, but I had no way of making a home for myself, no way I could contribute to anything, no way to be sure I would be safe for the full moons. I would try and find an abandoned forest somewhere remote, but the worry always remained, what would I do? I certainly couldn’t afford the wolfsbane, while the potion helped me get through my years as a professor, ensuring that the students of Hogwarts remained safe, without a job, I couldn’t afford to purchase it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>But then the legislation changed and Minerva invited me back. I loved teaching and I had gotten some of the best results from my students when I had first taught at Hogwarts. Minerva reached out to me and I accepted immediately. I had my home back, a purpose again, a mentor who cared about me, and a safe place to spend the full moons without having to worry about hurting anyone. It was everything I had ever dreamed of.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>BM:</em>
  </strong>
  <em> How has the sponsorship program helped with that transition?</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>RL:</em>
  </strong>
  <em> It gave me support and security while I integrated back into the workforce. Minerva has always looked out for me and the sponsorship program was just an extension of that. Teaching again at Hogwarts and not having to hide who I am is the biggest blessing I could have asked for.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>BM:</em>
  </strong>
  <em> With your successes professionally, have there been any developments in your personal life? With the changing stigma against creatures, surely this has opened some doors for you?”</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>RL:</em>
  </strong>
  <em> I have been more focused on being the best educator I can. Being the Head of Gryffindor House is a full time job on its own, you know.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>BM:</em>
  </strong>
  <em> So the split between yourself and Sirius Black has stuck?</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>RL:</em>
  </strong>
  <em> Yes, his time spent in Azkaban changed him. Following the confirmation of his innocence, Sirius spent some time travelling. When he returned and took up the post of History Professor at Hogwarts, we tried to rekindle our previous romance, but we have both changed in the intervening years. I had hoped that Sirius might be willing to work with me to strengthen our bond, but our priorities are too different. We decided over the summer to take a break. I hope that one day, we can reconnect on better footing but for now, we will remain colleagues at Hogwarts.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>BM:</em>
  </strong>
  <em> Well, hopefully love will find you again soon. I am sure our readers are happy to hear the youth of the country are in such dedicated hands when it comes to their education.</em>
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>RL:</em>
  </strong>
  <em> Thank you for having me.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Well readers, if you have any success stories under the creature sponsorship program, we would be interested in hearing from you. Send a letter of your experiences to our editor to be featured in next week’s edition!</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I really need to try and get back into the habit of posting. I have managed to finish editing part 8, which makes me happy, now I just need to check over part 9 and then it's back to slogging through the ending (part 10). </p><p>Anyway, here we have Chapter 6, thanks to all of you for sticking with me! </p><p>This has been a crazy weird journey and I keep getting distracted by other stories. I'm sorry guys... I've been working on one time travel snarry fic, a soulmate crossover with MCU (TonyxHarry), I even have one where the HP books get sent to Snape, because I felt like some BAMF Snape, am I right?  I am also doing a Yuri on Ice/Drarry crossover. As well as editing one of my old stories to fill in plot holes... But I have been trying to prioritise this one. It is important to me to finish this and it has been driving me crazy trying to work through it all.</p><p>And to top it all off, my partner and brother-in-law have somehow roped me into helping plot out their D&amp;D campaign, because apparently they both suck at storytelling... </p><p>Anyway, let's stop with the lengthy AN and get on with the chapter shall we?</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/><p>“Could we organise for Fawley to cease to exist? The guy is a major asshole.” Harry huffed as the threw himself into his chair in the library.</p><p>They had just gotten home after the Wizengamot session. The goblins had given him the day off from training to attend, not that they had much of a choice, he was a Lord and was required to attend the Wizengamot.</p><p>Severus chuckled and was about to respond when Sirius stepped out of the floo.</p><p>“What the fuck was that Harry?” He demanded. “You voted for the dark artefacts amendment?”</p><p>Severus turned astonished eyes on him. “You did what?!”</p><p>“There is something wrong with the seat. I think it’s a contact potion, it’s the only thing that could have gotten past my Lord ring protections. I bet it’s the same for everyone else. As soon as Greengrass opened the voting, I felt compelled to vote for the bill.” He looked to Severus, “You did too! Have you found yourself voting for something you didn’t want to? I could feel it against my occlumency shields but couldn’t actually fight off the influence.”</p><p>Severus’ eyes went wide, “Yes, last session, I voted for an amendment to increase taxes on bicorn horn. I never would have voted for such a thing. I wonder why it only triggers sometimes…”</p><p>“Perhaps the compulsion only affects you if you are thinking of voting against something and will nudge you towards the result the source is after if they do not believe they will automatically get the votes.” Sirius mused as he walked to the small bar to pour himself a drink. “Regardless, I want you both to take scans of your seats and the surrounding areas before the next session. Perhaps it will reveal who administered the compulsion and what kind it is. Though I think we all know who is to blame for this.”</p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Lord Potter Warns of the Threat Muggles Pose</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Last week I promised you, the wizarding public of Britain, a story of Lord Harry James Potter’s attitudes on the direction Magical Britain is moving. Many of you would expect that Lord Potter, the head of one of the most well-known light families, would be firmly with the light faction of the Wizengamot, supporting the Ministry and its decision to crack down on the proliferation of Dark magic throughout Britain in an attempt to remove the threat of further Dark Lords.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Coming off my opening question regarding his suitability for holding his seat in the Wizengamot at such a young age, Lord Potter grew passionate about his concerns for the direction Wizarding Britain is taking. “The world is changing around us. The muggle world is growing and expanding and developing at an alarming rate, I think a lot of purebloods and those raised exclusively in the wizarding world automatically dismiss everything muggle because we have been on top for so long. But now the muggles have computers and guns that are pinpoint accurate and bombs and cameras that record everything everywhere all the time.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I just worry that while we are squabbling about what magic is acceptable to teach the children, the muggles will find out about us and we won’t have a clue how to defend ourselves.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>We all should be familiar with the concept of the muggle bomb, it was, after all, developed during the Muggle World War II which coincided with the rise and fall of Grindlewald. Guns, of course, have been prevalent for hundreds of years, most of us can recall at least one musket tucked in a family vault which no longer works or if it does it’s accuracy is remarkably poor. Then of course there are cameras, which we of have our own version of. But the way Lord Potter commented on these things suggested there was more to the story than I expected.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>So this intrepid reporter ventured forth into the muggle world, finding the London Library and spent hours over the past week looking over muggle documentation. I began with the newspaper reels, because where else would a reporter begin, and what I found was concerning. Muggle technology over the last fifty, twenty, ten years has improved at such an exponential rate it is a miracle we have not suffered a widespread breach of the Statue of Secrecy.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I do not say this to create fear or panic. I say this to warn, to beg our Ministry to act now. Set up a task force to investigate muggle technology so that we have a chance, no matter how small, of escaping their scrutiny before it is too late.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Lord Potter was not exaggerating when he said that muggles have guns that are pinpoint accurate. I witnessed footage, a recording similar to a pensive, of a gunman, shooting someone between the eyes from over a thousand meters. While wands are more accurate than a standard musket, no longer can they compete with someone who can kill you before you can see them.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>While at the London Library, I asked a worker about a computer and was shown to an odd device. After some trial and error, I discovered it was a repository for information. I could access information from all around the world on any topic. It would only be too easy for someone to share stories of our existence and for that information to spread like feindfyre through the muggle world before we could stop it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>In this manner, I discovered muggle bombs have only grown in their destructive capabilities and their accuracy. Our centres could be destroyed in a moment with a simple push of a button from the muggle military.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The most horrifying discovery, by far, were muggle security cameras. They are everywhere, recording everything. You think you have found an abandoned alley from which to apparate away? You think it’s safe to cast a drying charm while tucked into a hidden doorway? You think it is safe to confundus a muggle into forgetting you said something wrong?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>You are not.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Security cameras record everything, everywhere, every minute of every day. They store the recorded data at a separate location which can be accessed at any time, making it virtually impossible for us to cover our tracks when magical mishaps happen.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It is time the Ministry acted, time the Ministry realised that their fixation on removing the threat of Dark magic has gone on too long. Instead they should be concerned over the external threat to our society. Muggles will find us, it is only a question of when, and when they do, they will tear us apart for being different. They will destroy us because of who we are.</em>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p>Lucius stepped into the Parisian flat the day after the muggle threat article, frown etched heavily in his brow. It took a few minutes for Severus to finish the current step of his experimental brew and cast a stasis charm over the station. Striding upstairs, he paused at the sight of his worried friend.</p><p>“Lucius! Are you alright?” Severus queried.</p><p>“I am well, my friend, I have news though, do you have time?” The blonde lingered by the fireplace, waiting for Severus to sit on the couch and gesture for him to join.</p><p>Severus summoned some tea and waited for the other man to begin speaking. Only once they had both taken a sip from their cups did he start.</p><p>“Following the article in the Prophet about the muggle threat, I reached out to a contact I have in the Unspeakables, believing they would have been aware of the threat, if there was one.” Lucius stopped, frowning into his tea cup.</p><p>“They were not aware?” Severus probed.</p><p>“No, worse.”</p><p>Severus paused, his mind stuttering over how it could be worse than blissful ignorance.</p><p>“The Unspeakables have been reporting the dangers muggles pose to the Statute of Secrecy for years. First Fudge dismissed their concerns-the man was always prone to burying his head in the sand. Then, once Dumbledore took power, he shut down their research all together, stating that muggles would never pose a threat to the wizarding way of life. He did seem to have a blind spot when it came to the witch hunts.” Lucius sighed, massaging his temple. “Because the project has been shut down, my contact was able to provide me with copies of some of his research. It’s impressive what they have done in response to the threat.”</p><p>Severus inclined his head. “I had some idea of what the muggle world was like. What did your contact give you?”</p><p>“The Unspeakables have been submitting recommendations to the ministry for improving their processes in dealing with the muggle world. They even have new spells to cope with the encroaching technology, but it has all been ignored or disregarded.</p><p>“Did you contact have any idea why?”</p><p>Lucius shook his head. “No reason? A million reasons? I don’t even understand this country any more.” He sounded deeply tired all of a sudden. “There would be little point in presenting the information to the Wizengamot, the ministry has been disregarding the unspeakables for years so I doubt the Wizengamot would take it any more seriously.”</p><p>The blonde scrubbed a hand over his face. “I am also reluctant to release the information to the media. It would create more panic and chaos than is desirable at this time. Did you have any thoughts on what we should do?”</p><p>Severus frowned. “I am unsure, you are correct about the ministry, Wizengamot and public response, though I do not want to sit on the information. We need people to be aware when they are interacting with the muggle world.” He paused, musing. “The risks are high, if we reveal the research, your contact could be implicated. I cannot imagine Dumbledore would take kindly to this information being shared after he shut down the program.”</p><p>“Perhaps we should bring Greengrass in on this? He might have an idea on how to proceed.” Lucius suggested after they sat in silence, mulling over the situation for a while.</p><hr/><p>Harry stared at the photo filling the top half of the front page of the <em>Daily Prophet</em>. It was a shot from his first interview with Alice. He wasn’t sure what to make of it, or the accompanying article either. The shot had him sitting in an armchair, sunlight streaming through the window, highlighting his determined, youthful visage. He leant forward in the photo, stabbing a finger down into the table before him to make his point. His robes were carelessly tossed over the back of the chair, sleeves rolled up to his elbows and the top few buttons were undone. He could see how he was the image of youth and power.</p><p>
  <em>Black Magic and the Rise of the Dark Lord</em>
</p><p>The headline underneath was rather incendiary; he couldn’t help but smirk at Alice and her antics. Mostly it was just a reproduction of their conversation about his position on the two topics cited in the title; black magic and the rise of the Dark Lord, as well as her providing supporting statistics on the risks of using dark and black magic.</p><p>She also delved into how the rest of the world managed regulating dark and black magic versus how Britain was. The statistics were not kind to Britain with their high rates of Dark Lords, Black Magic corruption and excessive restrictions on Dark Magic. These restrictions resulted in greater rates of injury and higher levels of corruption, proving that ignorance was not bliss when it came to magic.</p><p>Her final comments amused him deeply:</p><p>
  <em>The question I leave you, the British Wizarding public with after that story is the one that triggered the conversation to begin with.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Would Voldemort have risen if he had had someone to tell him to stop?”</em>
</p><p>Dumbledore was going to be furious. Voldemort’s story had been leaked and there was enough insinuation in the article that the sentiment against the man and his extremist views were mounting. She had been clever, laying suggestion and comments amongst the story, hopefully making the masses question Dumbledore’s decision to only permit light magic throughout the country.</p><p>Setting aside the paper, Harry focused on finishing his breakfast. He had a busy day of training ahead. They would spend the first hour doing some kind of cardio; running, sparring, they even went rowing once every few weeks on an underground river. Next they would spend a few hours working on weapons training before breaking for lunch. After a hearty meal, they would spend a few hours studying warding, building curses or breaking curses. They looked at different countries and cultures over the weeks; seeing the way they used magic, how they anchored the spells.</p><p>Harry loved every aspect of the work; even the morning exercise was familiar from his time spent with Sirius. Severus was inevitably happy because now he didn’t wake up early to go for a run as he could do it during training. This meant that the number of early morning romps had increased significantly; sleepy Harry seemed to make the other man hyper affectionate. Not that Harry minded, it was an excellent way to start the day.</p><p>Lately, they had been studying French warding and curses. There was something wildly elegant about the magic, the flourishes were beautiful, and it was so easy to see how people would get tangled up in it. Harry found he had a knack for wending his way through the tight whirls and curlicues of magic. He loved looking at all the threads and the weave, seeing where to pluck and pull to unravel the lot of it. It was deeply satisfying watching the wards collapse under their own weight as he took them apart.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So this is mostly smut lol. Some mild bondage? </p><p>I don't think I have much to share for my AN, so this is a short one. I hope you enjoy it :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/><p>Excitement thrummed through Severus. He had finally created the correct combination of spell and potion for the Nerve Repairing System. He had reached out through the potion making community at the start of the process and had been put in touch with an American squib with a private medical practice in New York and a machine which took PET Scans. A PET Scan of a patient’s brain was an imaging test that allowed doctors to see how the brain was functioning. It was often used in the muggle world to diagnose dementia, parkinsons and epilepsy, which all had similarities to the damage from over exposure to the cruciatus curse. With the PET Scan, the repairing potion and the administration spell, he was finally ready to submit his potion for human trials through The Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers.</p><p>He had been receiving monthly reports from them for the gender swap potion and the initial indicators were positive. Both men and women were able to take the potion and switch to the opposite gender and no one had involuntarily switched back in the first month of testing.</p><p>They had about ten couples in the pregnancy sample, all of whom were showing signs of being suitably fertile, but none were pregnant as yet. No one was worried though, falling pregnant naturally could take time, so it was possible it could take up to a year for some couples to be successful without further interference. For the sake of initial tests, they had capped the pregnancy testing to a year to see if anyone fell pregnant naturally before they would consider introducing any aids to the process.</p><p>Severus could only hope that the Nerve Repairing System would have more success. He had found a not-so-surprising support in the Longbottom boy, once Harry had let slip what Severus had been working on. Longbottom had cornered him during one of their dinners and began a lengthy discussion on the seeds which Severus had -reluctantly- handed over to the youth from Salazar’s chambers.</p><p>It had taken a very <em>obedient </em>Harry to convince him that Neville was their best bet at getting the ancient seeds to flourish and Severus had to admit, the young man was gifted with plants, abysmal with potions, but plants seemed to love him.</p><p>Within the month of Severus relinquishing the seeds, Longbottom had been handing over samples of them, one of which had been an extinct singing iris, the stamens of which proved instrumental in binding together and boosting the potion to the point where it succeeded on the… test subjects he had back at the Manor. Not that anyone else knew that the potion had been tested already to some degree.</p><p>Regardless, Severus was now ready to submit his product for certified testing. Withdrawing the specially made case, he inserted the batch of one hundred potions that he had prepared, along with instructions on the spell and how it needed to be combined with the PET scan as well as the contact information of the squib and all his other research materials. The vials nestled safely in their slots while the paperwork was slid into the lid before the whole thing shrunk down with the press of his thumb and a pulse of magic.</p><p>Striding upstairs, he found Hedwig, resting on her perch in the loungeroom and stroked her gently to wake her. Her wide amber eyes swivelled towards him and when he offered the package, she nibbled his fingers affectionately as he tied it on.</p><p>“Please deliver this to The Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers in America, you remember the place.” He requested, feeding her a few owl treats before she flapped her wings and disappeared out the window.</p><p>Now it was time to hunt down his husband to celebrate. After searching the apartment, Severus was frustrated to realise it was the middle of the day, and Harry was at his training with the goblins. With a huff, he retreated to his potions lab with the intention of working on the next project, a fertility potion to increase the likelihood of multiple births. The population had been suffering after so many wars in such quick succession, they needed a way to increase the number of magical children and quickly. If he could refine an improved fertility potion which increased the likelihood of multiple births, it would go a long way to solving their problem.</p><p>He tried to get lost in his research, reviewing the existing fertility potions which had middling success on young healthy subjects, but struggled. Even when he flicked through the notes Longbottom had provided on the seedlings he now had. Included was a lychee subspecies which was magical and had been known for its fertility properties. Instead, Severus found himself watching the clock, waiting for the wards to trigger to alert him to Harry’s return.</p><p>At 3:30 pm, Severus threw down his notes, stalking upstairs and into their bedroom. He could feel Harry’s curiosity through the bond, wondering what was causing a previously unknown level of agitation in Severus. Something in him was restless, aching and hungry for the feel of his husband’s skin under his hands. He had been close to a breakthrough with the Nerve Repair System and Harry had been exhausted from his training, so they’d had little opportunity for intimacies of late.</p><p>It felt like his magic and his soul was crying out for the connection with Harry, causing his skin to twitch and tighten on his body. He felt like he was spiralling out of control as he waited for his husband to return, heat was building in his chest, thrumming through his body, causing him to pace as his agitation rose.</p><p>His clothing was too restrictive, scratching at his hyper-sensitive skin. First, he shucked his robes, shirt and trousers following soon after. Rummaging through his wardrobe, his softest pair of black silk sleep pants grabbed his senses, and so he donned them. Long elegant feet bare as they padded over the plush carpet.</p><p>He needed Harry, needed him now.</p><p>The tie from his black silk robe twisted between his hands as the half-hour before Harry arrived home oozed by. He could feel the concern and anxiety echoing back from Harry but could not control himself.</p><p>Finally, the wards twinged, alerting him to Harry’s arrival and he froze, eyes fixed on their bedroom door as Harry hurried closer. The door to their bedroom flew open, as Harry stepped through, frantic. The door swung shut behind Harry as Severus stalked forward, crowding the surprised younger man up against the timber.</p><p>“I have been waiting for you, my love.” Severus purred, satisfied when he saw Harry’s eyes dilate with lust. Pressing himself against the younger man, he breathed over Harry’s ear, gratified to feel him shudder. “You will probably regret making me wait.”</p><p>Harry whined at the honeyed tone in his voice. Unable to wait any longer, Severus snapped his fingers, banishing Harry’s clothes. Already the younger man was panting and hardening against him. Taking a step back, he took in the spreading flush over tanned skin and growing thickness between Harry’s legs. Gripping the satin tie, he loosely looped it around Harry’s wrists, giving the younger man a questioning look. Harry swallowed, nodding, and allowed himself to be led to the bed.</p><p>Taking back the tie, Severus pushed Harry down onto the soft black bedspread. Running his fingers down the tie, it multiplied in his hand, four long black satin ribbons sitting across his palm. With a gesture, two snaked across Harry’s skin, binding and tightening around his forearms and wrists, anchoring themselves to the head of the bed. Harry gasped and arched at the sensation, a small smile tugging at his lips.</p><p>“Tell me if you want me to stop.” Severus breathed as he climbed onto the bed by Harry’s feet.</p><p>The younger man nodded mutely, arms tugging and testing the bindings. Grasping Harry’s knees, Severus lifted, folding Harry in half until they are hovering about his elbows. The two remaining ties bound themselves above and below the knee joint, stretching down to wrap around Harry’s biceps.</p><p>Wide green eyes look up at him; Harry was exposed, bare, arse on display and heavy cock brushing against his chest. Severus trailed kisses from one thigh, across Harry’s arse and over to the other. Harry’s gasps and moans were music to his ears when he returned to begin tracing his tongue lightly over Harry’s furled entrance.</p><p>Breathing out a cleansing charm, Severus allowed himself to be swept away as he lavished attention on his husbands twitching entrance. Licking and tonguing the sensitive skin, he drowned in the noises he was tearing from Harry. It was perfection to have such freedom to worship the man who had given so much to him.</p><p>Firming his tongue, Severus speared it into Harry, thrusting to the sounds of his pleasured wails. He could feel the muscles slowly giving way under his ministrations. Pausing, he sat back a little to appreciate the vision laid out before him. Harry was panting, lips bitten red, sweat dotted his chest, fists clenched, toes curled. His entrance fluttered, calling desperately for Severus to return, but he had other ideas.</p><p>Moving, Severus extracted his favourite lubricant from the bedside table. Since their heart bonding, Harry had grown partial to rose-scented oil. Uncapping the vial, he trickled it along Harry’s thighs, dribbling it over his entrance, his tightening sack and dripping cock. He drizzled it over Harry’s chest, droplets on his dusky nipples. It ran in rivulets over tanned skin, glowing and shining in the afternoon sun.</p><p>Casting aside the emptied vial, Severus smeared his hands over the exposed skin, rubbing and massaging the oil in until Harry shone with it. If he lingered on the sensitive skin, caressing his cock and hole and nipples, Harry could only moan and take it, bound as he was.</p><p>Unable to resist any longer, Severus eased a slick finger into Harry. The angle allowing him to plunge in deeply as Harry groaned and quivered. The younger man was already babbling, begging for more, so Severus slid in a second, pumping and twisting them with little to no resistance.</p><p>He took his time, scissoring and stretching Harry until he screamed for more. Only then did Severus slip in a third finger to Harry’s frustrated groan. The younger man was bucking and thrashing as much as his bonds would allow, crying for <em>more, faster, harder</em>. But Severus wasn’t in a rush, he wanted to savour this.</p><p>It was only when Harry sobbing, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes, cock red and dripping, that Severus withdrew his fingers. Harry wailed, lost in a haze of pleasure and need as Severus shucked his sleep pants and slicked his length. Shifting so he was stretched out above Harry, he was momentarily captivated by the wide green eyes that gazed up at him so desperately.</p><p>He moaned as his cock head slipped into Harry. Bracing his hands against the headboard, Severus slowly lowered his hips, allowing his cock to slide ever deeper into Harry. It was slick and hot and so tight around him.</p><p>Gasping and panting, he didn’t stop until his cock was buried fully within Harry. The muscles wrapped around him quivered and rippled as Harry worked to relax while tied up so prettily.</p><p>“Sev, please…” Harry gasped and finally, he moved.</p><p>The slow glide of his withdrawal was agony. Almost as punishing as easing back in, an inch at a time. After a few thrusts where the world seemed to stop, Severus’ whole body was shaking. Holding himself up like this, no matter how good it felt to drive down into Harry, was no longer possible.</p><p>Running a finger over the ties binding Harry’s knees, they broke free, allowing the younger man to straighten out with a groan. Catching his hips, Severus settled them in a slightly more comfortable position.</p><p>With greater control, he resumed thrusting into Harry, luxuriating in the steady glide of their slicked skin. Harry lay beneath him, panting, eyes blown with arousal as Severus lost himself in pleasure.</p><p>This feeling, this connection they shared, it was everything. Their bond raged with love, with need, with a perfect sense of home.</p><p>Eyes rolling back in his head, Severus felt his orgasm crash over him, jerking and thrusting as he filled Harry to the brim. Looking down, he could see Harry was desperate, crying, begging to come but unable to touch himself. Shifting his hand from its tight grip on Harry’s hip, he wrapped it around the younger man’s cock. It only took a few strokes before Harry’s release splattered over his chest, body shaking.</p><p>As Harry shuddered through his orgasm, Severus came down a little from the high. Waving his hand, the bindings faded away, allowing Harry to sag fully onto the bed. Curling up together, sleep claimed them within moments, their skin still slick with oil and come.</p><hr/><p>They knew things were shifting in their favour when Yarrow stepped through the floo one morning in mid-October unexpectedly. His expression was unusually serious, so they retreated to the library.</p><p>"It is beginning in earnest." Yarrow began, pacing in front of the fire.</p><p>"What has happened?" Severus asked, leaning forward.</p><p>"Last night Aurors raided Runcorn Manor. They had received a tip, apparently, saying that the family had been harbouring dark artefacts. Their heirlooms have been confiscated by the ministry. Johnathan came to see me this morning about it." Yarrow slumped into a chair, worry etched over his elegant features.</p><p>"We knew this was coming, we have been waiting for this since they proposed the heirlooms amendment. It’s not like it was hard to see their endgame." Harry nodded. "We know that the tip was just an excuse. Dumbledore is making a move on the neutral faction. While Runcorn is known to have dark tendencies, he is still aligned neutrally in the Wizengamot. We needed this.</p><p>“As much as I hate that he has had to suffer this indignity, we need Dumbledore to start making moves on the neutral faction before they will respond. They didn’t try to stop him when he drove the dark out. Hopefully they will take a stand now that he has started in on the neutral faction.</p><p>“Yarrow, start feeling out the members of your faction, see who will side with us against Dumbledore. But we need a light touch for now. This is only his first move, so we need to be careful how we respond." Harry finished, eyes alight with passion.</p><p>"Perhaps we should speak with Alice, have her release one of the articles targeting Dumbledore." Severus offered.</p><p>"No, it's too soon. A light touch Severus." Harry frowned, thinking, before he lit up with a grin. "It's time she released the story of us. There is enough of Dumbledore tangled in our story that it will begin to cast doubt and it will act as a counterpoint to all of the other articles the Prophet will run on the raid."</p><p>Harry ignored Severus' feeling of discomfort, focusing instead on Yarrow who was watching with curiosity. "The ministry probably won't release Runcorn’s heirlooms. They don't want to give any of the things they confiscate back, even though they are required to return them if they are not a danger, which they wouldn't be. Johnathan will grow angry as time goes by and the ministry continues shafting him. You need to use that; he will help you get the rest of the faction moving."</p><p>Yarrow nodded. "The opening moves are being made in the game now. I have found an American lawyer willing to help us. I had him sign a confidentiality contract before I provided him with anything. He has no connection to anything in any way. I'll warn him what is coming, so he will be prepared."</p><p>Yarrow rose, straightening his robes. "I'll come by in a few days for dinner so we can discuss the initial response from the faction. Don't forget to get in touch with Alice, Harry."</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Diagon Alley Expansion!</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>A new alley, named Horizont Alley, just off Diagon has appeared with several new shop fronts up for sale or lease. Additionally, an apartment block, titled Verticy, is generating significant interest from the younger generation of witches and wizards. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>The Daily Prophet approached the Ministry on this surprise expansion and they provided the following comment: “It fills our hearts with joy to see our community growing and expanding following our triumph over the Dark. The Dark Lord known as Voldemort cast a heavy pall over our world for too long and this is a measure of how we have moved beyond his influence. While it is exciting to see how much we have grown, we must be ever vigilant against the temptation of the Dark, which is always snapping at the edge of the light we shed.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>If you are interested in leasing or purchasing a shop front, please speak with the goblins of Gringotts. If you are interested in renting or purchasing an apartment please visit the front desk of Verticy for an application. Already the alley boasts an art gallery, a grocers, bakers and butchers. Signs advertising an upcoming dressmakers and jewellers have been placed as well.</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Welcome back! I'll be starting to post on the first of the month regularly now. I'll even set reminders so that I don't forget to post a chapter for weeks on end. Hopefully I figure out how to write the ending before I get there.</p><p>Anyway, I give you some emotional development, yay! And a bit of delightful smuttyness, Severus being sarcastic and Sirius being thrown under the metaphorical bus ;)</p><p>***Trigger Warning*** I'm not sure if this is something that needs to be warned for? But. There will be a clinical discussion of miscarriages. If you are triggered by this I would honestly recommend stopping reading, the themes of the story are not going to get happier with discussions of miscarriage, forced pregnancy, depression and gender dysphoria. It's not pretty, but then again, I haven't really been trying to tackle nice topics with this story... Anyway, I am not overly interested in criticism, if you don't like it, you are welcome to stop reading and unsubscribe. Though I have never experienced a miscarriage, a lot of inspiration is drawn from my own personal experience. Everyones experiences are different, no ones being right or wrong, and if you don't like it, please leave silently.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/><p>Severus sneered at the headline that peeked over the fold of the Prophet. He hated how over the top people were sometimes.</p><p>
  <em>The-Boy-Who-Loved</em>
</p><p>Above the headline were two photos, the first was Harry, slouched indolently in an armchair, one leg thrown over the arm, sunlight streaming over his tanned skin. His hair tumbled around his shoulders, shirt rumpled, and only half done up. The cuffs rolled up, showing off his muscled forearms.</p><p>The second was of Severus. He couldn't be sure when it had been taken. It seemed likely it had been taken by one of Harry's friends during one of their days out in the French magical area. He was in a bookstore, standing by a shelf, flicking through a heavy tome when something caught his attention. He glanced up, a small smile curled his lips before he looked back down at the book and the loop repeated. Severus was astonished by how relaxed he looked in dark trousers and a green button-down shirt. His hair was loose around his shoulders, though tucked behind an ear so he could read and exposing his face to the camera.</p><p>He felt Harry move up behind him, tracing a finger over the image. Severus glanced back and up to see a fond expression on Harry's face.</p><p>"I love this photo of you."</p><p>Reaching up, Severus pulled Harry around for a soft, lingering kiss. Smiling a little after he released the man, he turned back to the paper and his tea. Flipping it over, he skimmed over the article, Harry was right, there was enough insinuation against Dumbledore in the article, couched within their love story.</p><p>He frowned a little at Harry's comments, sad at how little the younger man had been getting from him. He was startled from his musing by Harry's hand grasping his. Looking up he found a soft smile adorning his features.</p><p>“I am sorry.” Severus murmured, staring at their intertwined hands. “I am sorry I was not a good husband to you. You deserved better than what I gave you, especially at the start. I was cold and unkind.”</p><p>“Severus, love, I wouldn’t have known how to accept anything else. You saw how I struggled when you gave me kindness, I didn’t know what to do when you were kind to me at the start. We grew and learned together. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Please don’t feel guilty about how we were. I was desperate and insecure; you were cold and mean. We are better now though, and we found our way together.”</p><p>“Yes…” Severus agreed quietly, closing his eyes, he focused on the bundle of feelings that was Harry. There was nothing but sincerity, calmness and love there. No longer was there any lingering pain or hurt. “You have made me a better man and I hope a better husband for you.”</p><p>“Perhaps we could go out in Diagon, be seen as disgustingly in love. The Prophet will go wild over it.” Harry winked cheekily, so Severus agreed with a chuckle.</p><p>“That would be lovely, you have a day off in a few days, yes?”</p><p>“Saturday, I have the whole day, we can go shopping, it’s been a while, and the media frenzy will only grow over the next week or so, so we should be seen, and soon.” Harry grinned at him and Severus was astonished to realise how happy the younger man was to be seen with him.</p><p>He had not realised how much his reluctance to face the public backlash had been confining Harry. He resolved, for the umpteenth time, to try harder to keep the younger man happy. Harry beamed at him before returning to his breakfast, eager as always to get to Gringotts for his Cursebreaker training.</p><hr/><p>Harry ended up organising a get together with Pansy, Neville, Draco, Hermione and Severus for that Saturday. He extended an invitation to Sirius, but the man had work he needed to do in the morning and promised to catch them up when he could. They were going to spend a few hours wandering Diagon shopping and chatting before heading to the nearby Victoria Gardens for a picnic lunch. He knew the chances of a reporter following them to the park were pretty high but didn’t worry overly much about it. Today’s purpose was having them be visible, Gryffindors mixing with Slytherins and all unashamed of their associations.</p><p>He finished up in the shower, stepping out to switch with Severus. He snatched a brief kiss on his way back to their bedroom where he peered into his side of the wardrobe while towelling his hair dry. Spotting the boots he had bought the summer before his seventh year, Harry decided to wear the outfit that boy had helped him pick out so long ago. </p><p>As he wriggled into the skin tight black jeans, he was grateful Severus was in the shower and wouldn't bear witness to the ridiculous dance he was reduced to just to get the damn things on. A tight black t-shirt stretched over his well-built chest. The goblins had helped him bulk up with all the weapons training. The leather jacket now fit him properly instead of being oversized, but that worked well with his long black hair that curled messily around his face and the chunky black boots.</p><p>Harry was just considering whether he should tie his hair back or change his shirt to something that didn't look painted on when a very naked Severus stepped up behind him. Within seconds, long potion stained fingers tangled in his loose hair, pulling his head back and to the side to bare the side of his neck. Without hesitation, Severus fastened his mouth to Harry's throat, kissing, nibbling and licking the tanned skin.</p><p>Severus' other arm wrapped around his waist, encouraging Harry to relax back into his husband's embrace. That wet tongue slid along the sensitive skin of his neck and Harry could feel himself begin to harden as Severus' hand in his hair tightened. The other hand drifted lower, brushing over Harry's denim encased cock. It was an agony of contrasts, the tight hard fabric against his cock coupled with the light brush of fingers. The tight fist in his hair riding the edge of pleasure and the soft lips making love to his throat.</p><p>Harry whined when Severus unzipped his jeans, cock immediately springing free. He had not been able to fit underwear under the ridiculously tight things. Severus chuckled roughly in his ear as he began to stroke Harry.</p><p>"Naughty boy, no underwear hmmm?"</p><p>Harry thrust into the fist wrapped around his length, precome dribbling from the tip. Severus worked him over expertly, playing, twisting, tugging as he knew best until Harry was gasping.</p><p>"Are you going to come for me?" Severus licked the outer curve of his ear, breath sending goose bumps over his skin. "Are you going to be a good boy and come for me Harry?"</p><p>With another slick tug, Harry came, white seed splattering over the mirror. Severus held him through his orgasm, stroking out the last of his release before casting a gentle cleansing charm and attempting to tuck him away. </p><p>Harry whined and twitched away; cock hypersensitive after his orgasm. He moved to touch Severus, but the older man waved him away with a smile and a tender kiss.</p><p>"We will be late if we dally much longer, and" he continued when Harry opened his mouth to protest, "I am content to wait." Severus gave him a surprisingly dirty smirk before stepping to his wardrobe to dress.</p><p>Checking the bond, all he could sense was a strong current of love and contentment. Harry blinked a few times in astonishment before realising that his softened cock was still hanging from his jeans. It only took a small cringe to tuck himself away and zip back up again. He finished to discover Severus had donned some slightly more practical black jeans and a black button down that he had rolled the sleeves up on. The older man had already tied his hair back but was considering a pair of robes. </p><p>Moving over to give Severus a cuddle and peer over his shoulder, Harry murmured in his ear. "Leave them for today, you look perfect as is."</p><p>Severus snorted, but put the robes away and turned in his arms. "Really? As I am? Shoeless?" he arched a brow and Harry could only laugh.</p><p>"Wear your boots," Harry requested, pressing a quick kiss to Severus' lips and stepping away and settling on the bed to wait. "I love you in them and you haven't worn them in a while."</p><p>It didn’t take Harry and Severus very long to finish getting ready and floo through to the Leaky. Hermione had been slumped over the breakfast table when they left but had promised to come through in the next hour. Stepping into the alley, Harry tucked his hand into Severus’ elbow, smiling all the while.</p><p>Diagon Alley was the same but different. As they strolled along, Harry marvelled at the magical stores and how they were flourishing without the pending threat of a dark lord. Everything was distinctly light oriented though, nothing advertised even hinted at the darker side of magic. People pointed and stared as they openly walked down the alley, but Harry ignored them. He spotted, just on the corner of the new alley, a bakery with a sweet little awning out the front and a few tables and chairs.</p><p>Dragging Severus over, they ordered coffee and some delicious looking pastries. Knowing the purpose of their trip today was to be visible, they settled at one of the tables outside and chatted over their food.</p><p>When Hermione arrived, Harry was feeding small amounts of his blueberry Danish to Severus, laughing at the other man’s disgruntled expression. There were a couple of reporters loitering nearby, sneaking photos of the laughing couple. Hermione rolled her eyes, going in to order before joining them outside.</p><p>After Hermione had consumed enough coffee, she smiled at Severus. “Have any results come through for your potions? The gender swap potion has been in testing for a few months now hasn’t it?”</p><p>“Yes, we have just crossed the two-month mark.” Severus replied. “Those who have swapped, have maintained their new gender. No one has fallen pregnant yet, though most of the women have now experienced their first period. I estimate that within the first six months at least a few of the women will successfully fall pregnant. The men have all been tested for their seminal fertility and found that most are good and increasing incrementally as the months have gone by. We expect they should all plateau soon with average levels.”</p><p>“Do you have any couples who are both in the long term gender swap trial and trying to fall pregnant? What are your estimations on miscarriage for both the changed women and the women bearing changed men’s children? Miscarriage is less common for magical women than muggle women, but it is still an issue, have you accounted for that at all?” Hermione rambled off, tearing apart her lemon and poppyseed muffin.</p><p>Severus frowned at her and her relentless barrage and she had the grace to look mildly embarrassed. “No, we do not have any couples where the parties are in the long term gender swap trial and trying to fall pregnant. They are two separate trials and they were not permitted to cross over.”</p><p>He paused, taking a sip of coffee. “I did not consider or calculate the rates of miscarriage in the pregnancies; honestly, I am simply hoping that the gender swap potion will hold for a full year. The twins and I did not expect to find such success with their potion and because I wasn’t overly involved in the development process, I didn’t have the usual opportunity to prepare estimates and projections on how the potion would act. I was mostly involved with the antidote and adjusting the formula so that it was properly timed for the prank version.”</p><p>While Severus was talking, Draco arrived, ordering and joining them. “I had a look at the notes and the initial results released by The Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers. The miscarriage projections for the changed women bearing are currently on par with muggle rates at around 15% for the first trimester with the likelihood of miscarriage dropping to about 4% during the second and almost non-existent during the third.”</p><p>Draco paused to thank the waitress for his coffee and a bagel before turning back to the conversation. “I was speaking with Master Trank on this yesterday, we were discussing the likelihood of women miscarrying from the changed men and we ended up positing that it wouldn’t increase the likelihood at all, but probably wouldn’t decrease it. What I want to know, is whether the change will impact on how magical the children are.”</p><p>Severus looked intrigued and Hermione lit up at the comment. “What a curious thought, I wonder if fertility potions impact how magical the children are? Surely there would be some crossover so we could extrapolate from the data available.”</p><p>“I was reading a study on the use of the magical or non-magical varieties of Lepidium meyenii in fertility potions.” Neville cut in as he sat down. “Provided that the magical variety is used, which makes the potion more expensive, they have not found any impact on the magical abilities of the child. If the potion used cheaper or less magical ingredients, then the likelihood that it will impact the magical ability of the child increases. The magic the child would have been born with instead goes into maintaining the pregnancy.”</p><p>Pansy tucked herself next to Neville with a small smile. Hermione leant forward, eager. “How do they test that?”</p><p>“Well,” Neville began, “we are all born with our magical cores in the shape of what they will be as an adult and as we grow, it fills with magic. They have methods of testing the shape of the core and found that for those who used the lower quality fertility potions, the children’s cores shrank during its time in the womb. They also compare any previous children who were produced without the fertility potion, if there are any, with those that are born under its influence.”</p><p>As everyone chatted easily on topic they were passionate about, Harry couldn’t help but look around happily. He had Severus by his side, and wonderful friends in Hermione, Draco, Neville and Pansy. Their conversation continued for a little while before Harry noticed that the reporters were edging closer.</p><p>Pansy was just explaining about some new fabric she had bought that she thought would look lovely on Harry when the first reporter broached the outer edge of their group. The insipid looking woman stepped up to Severus, which Harry felt was her first mistake, and opened her mouth to make her second.</p><p>“Genevieve Shipwell, Witch Weekly. Severus, will you care to comment on the recent article detailing your relationship with Lord Potter here? There is speculation that the story is a fabrication and that in reality you have been carrying on sexual relationships with your students since you became a professor of Hogwarts. Care to comment?”</p><p>Harry cringed at the rage that flooded their bond. This was going to get ugly.</p><p>Severus rose, a heavy sneer curling his lip. The reporter wilted under his cold glare. “I am unsure where you found the impression I welcomed perfect strangers to use my given name, but please allow me to disabuse you of that notion. Do not ever think it is acceptable to use my given name without being granted express permission by myself. You do not have it. I cannot imagine a scenario in which I would grant a privilege like that to a cockroach like you.”</p><p>The woman had paled heavily as he continued speaking and the other reporters retreated to a safer distance, though not too far to prevent them from listening in.</p><p>“Now, with regards to your heinous allegation that I, at any point, had any kind of sexual relationship with a student of Hogwarts, I will happily grant you clarification. I am not attracted to children. I have never had sex with a child. I have never been intimate with a child. I have never carried on a relationship with a child.”</p><p>Severus drew himself up to his full height. “In the Hogwarts charter, special conditions are included which permit a professor and an of-age student to carry on a relationship provided they are married. It was actually commonplace many generations ago but it fell out of vogue over time. There was nothing wrong or illegal about my relationship with Harry as he was over the age of majority and my husband.”</p><p>He cast one last withering glare at her and the few lingering reporters. “Now, if you will excuse me, I was enjoying a day with my husband and friends.”</p><p>The woman fled.</p><p>Harry could only sigh, patting Severus’ knee when he sat back down. He waved over a passing waitress so they could all order some more coffee and pastries. Before their conversation could resume, Draco rose.</p><p>“Unfortunately, I must be going, thank you for a lovely morning.” He pressed a kiss to Hermione’s cheek, causing her to blush furiously, and departed with a wave.</p><p>Conversation resumed slowly, Pansy picking up on her thread about where her clothes designing was going. Another half an hour of conversation slipped by when suddenly a disgruntled owl flapped over, landing on the table in front of Hermione and squawking irritably. She sighed and immediately reached for the scroll attached to its leg, it pecked her for her troubles before flying off in a huff.</p><p>Hermione sighed, unrolling the scroll and scanning it quickly. “Sorry guys, I have to get going too, there is some kind of minor emergency and I have to go in.” She grimaced before rising and bidding everyone goodbye.</p><p>“Well, perhaps we should consider moving venue?” Harry suggested after Hermione had left.</p><p>“What were you thinking Harry?” Pansy asked.</p><p>“Well, I discovered there is a park just down the road that I thought we might go and look at? I had Raff put together a picnic lunch for us, Sirius should be there in an hour or so.” Harry flicked a <em>tempus</em> and nodded.</p><p>“A park?” Neville perked up and they all laughed.</p><p>“Come on, let’s go.” Harry grinned.</p><hr/><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Sirius Black: Azkaban Escapee, Vigilante, Creature Lover, Leader of the Dark, Eligible Bachelor</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>This intrepid reporter met with one Sirius Black to discuss his checkered past. The only man to have ever escaped from Azkaban, and notorious for being illegally incarcerated. He is also a known member of the vigilante group: the Order of the Phoenix, rumoured to be lead by Albus Dumbledore. Sirius Black also was close friends with and later dated the known werewolf and poster boy for creature integration, Remus Lupin. He is the leader of the Dark Faction in the Wizengamot by proxy and History Professor at Hogwarts.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Sirius, as he insisted I call him, refused to share his secret of the escape from Azkaban, though promised that he has advised the hole in the defences and it has been rectified by the Ministry. He commented that his 12 year incarceration had been a ‘tragic miscarriage of justice’ and indicated that he was not interested in rehashing his history.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>When asked about his involvement in the Order of the Phoenix, he waved it away as nothing. “I was young and stupid, thinking I could save the world single handedly. I was taken in by glorious promises and was cast aside just as quickly when it was no longer convenient.” He refused to comment on whether Dumbledore had been the leader citing still existing secrecy vows.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Remus Lupin, of course, came up next. “He was my best friend,” Sirius explained, “James was my brother, but Remus was my other half. Unfortunately, the war drove a wedge of suspicion between us. We tried to reconnect after I was declared innocent, but the years had not been kind to either of us. We became different men and as such, I had to walk away, for both our sakes.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>As leader of the Dark faction, there is a lot of danger and pressure on Sirius, which he laughed off easily. “I am happy to represent people who need it. It is important to have every side of our community represented. I am honoured that they trust me to act as their voice in such a prestigious forum. I can only hope that the Dark will continue to thrive under my leadership, so that we can step forward into the future with pride and conviction.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Considering the amount of power he wields in the Wizengamot, I pressed to discover how he copes juggling his position as History professor at Hogwarts with his political burdens.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Both roles I play are critically important for our world, so I make it work. Our children must be given the opportunity to learn from the past, to grow beyond mistakes made before. At the same time, I have the opportunity to try and make our world a better place for the next generation. I probably don’t get enough sleep and probably take too many pepper-up’s during exam periods, but I am willing to do what is necessary to do what is right. The children are our future, but they will need stable ground from which to grow.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It doesn’t seem as though Sirius gets enough time to socialise, to find love. When asked about whether he wads interested in romance in the future, Sirius laughed. “I hope love and romance find me. I don’t have the time to look but I hope, one day, the right person for me will come along.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Well, my faithful readers, Sirius Black is definitely on the market and one of our most eligible bachelors of Britain!</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sorry, I'm a week late! I so wanted to try and post on the first of each month, but this past week has been a bit weird. Anyway, here is a new chapter for you all to enjoy!</p><p>Please note there is a clinical discussion of child abuse and death in the later half of the chapter.</p><p>I do have a question, for those who want to answer. I have been struggling over the ending of this story, the biggest hurdle is a significant criminal trial which must take place. I definitely can't write the whole thing, it is daunting enough to consider writing snippets of it. But would it be a complete cop out to skip the thing and write an epilogue? I feel like it would be, but it is a terribly tempting prospect at this stage. Anyway, if you have an opinion one way or another, let me know. I don't really have anyone else to bounce these sorts of ideas off, you know how people are with fanfiction...</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/><p>
  <strong>
    <em>The Fall of Voldemort</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>My faithful readers, I have a story for you, the likes of which has previously never been told. We have heard of how the Dark Lord known as Voldemort came to be the monster we knew. I am sure you all remember the Ministries vague reassurances following his fall. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>No story was ever really provided, no explanation was given of his death. Instead, we were asked, on faith alone, to accept that the Dark Lord had fallen, again, and would not rise, again. No one has ever really explained what really happened that day at the ministry. Today, I give you, the wizarding public of Britain, that story.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Lord Potter invited me to meet at his home, Prince Manor. We were led through a homey, rambling farmhouse before being shown to Lord Potters private study. From my previous interactions with the youngest, ever, sitting lord in the Wizengamot, I found the space just as expected. It was warm and welcoming, with floor to ceiling bookcases any bibliophile would die for. A beautiful glass wall took up one side, the top of which threw colours over the space from a stained-glass window depicting the rise of Merlin.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I opened with questions I had been left with following our initial interview. Was he at the ministry when Voldemort fell? What happened on that fateful day? Was Harry Potter really the Chosen One as had been whispered for all of his childhood?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Lord Potter had many answers for me. "Following the resurrection of Voldemort at the end of my fourth year, I experienced visions and pain due to my curse scar and its connection to the Dark Lord. Just prior to the Yule break, I witnessed, through a vision, the attack on Arthur Weasley by Voldemort's snake Nagini. This triggered Dumbledore to organise Occlumency lessons with the only other Occlumens at his disposal, Professor Snape."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>For those readers unaware of what Occlumency is, it is an ancient and delicate art devoted to protecting ones mind from foreign influence or penetration. It is considered incredibly difficult and only those with immense control of their mind and emotions are capable of mastering it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"The Occlumency lessons led to Professor Snape training me for the next six months in secret so that when I faced Voldemort again, I would not have to rely only on sheer dumb luck."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"During my History OWL, my mental shields weakened, and Voldemort forced a vision of my godfather, Sirius Black, being tortured in the Department of Mysteries. I realised it was a false vision, but a nugget of truth remained. There was something down there that Voldemort wanted desperately. He was hoping I would rush into danger to save Sirius, thus opening me up to manipulation to get the item for him.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Instead, I went to Severus, I told him of the vision, and we figured out a plan of action. Not only that, but Severus knew what Voldemort wanted. There was a prophecy made, before my birth, that hailed the one who would vanquish the Dark Lord. He counselled me to fetch the prophecy and destroy or listen to it, whichever I had time for. He suggested that I wait for Voldemort in the Atrium so that, should there be a confrontation, it would be public and indisputable.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"When I arrived at the ministry, it was empty. To this day I don't know where everyone went, but I did not see a soul while I ventured down to the Department of Mysteries, retrieved the prophecy orb, and came back up to the Atrium. I hid away to listen to the prophecy which confirmed that I was the chosen one and would have a 'power he knows not'.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I destroyed the orb and waited in the Atrium. Eventually Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix arrived and started duelling. Unfortunately, Voldemort did not arrive. I saw one Death Eater making an escape and asked that they summon Voldemort for me." </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Lord Potter would only grin when I pressed for more details, utterly incredulous that a fleeing Death Eater would be so obliging.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Nevertheless, Voldemort arrived, and we duelled. I won't go into the details of the duel over much, needless to say, I taunted him, and he got rather angry with me. Unable to defeat me during our duelling session, Voldemort dematerialised and possessed me.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Yes, my readers, you read that correctly. Voldemort possessed Harry Potter.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I created a mind scape for us to converse in, and the - man? Creature? Whatever he was - started monologuing at me. I ignored him, instead trying to figure out what I could do to try and take the bastard down. Eventually, I decided to improvise, it normally worked for me in the past, so I figured, what the hell? The worst that could happen was I would die. I, of course, hoped to take Voldemort with me, but at the time I was not overly partial to living. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“The spell I improvised was successful, and Voldemort was destroyed. I didn’t really expect to wake, I cast an experimental spell within my own mindscape on a possessing spirit. Somehow, I did wake, and boy did I wish I hadn’t.” Lord Potter chuckled, apparently completely at ease with telling his story while I tried to swallow down the horror that his life had been.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I was not provided medical attention, instead I was given a portkey by Dumbledore which took me to his locked office. I was in pain, bleeding, and magically exhausted. I can't be sure how long it took, but I escaped eventually. Afterwards, I made my way to the only safe haven I had ever known. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Severus found me, passed out in his office, in a pool of my own blood. He healed me, unlike anyone else. But then, I had often been forgotten by others in favour of more important things.”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>My readers, I am unsure whether there is any further comment that could be made following this incredible story. Perhaps we should ask the question of why the Ministry covered up the involvement of Harry Potter in the defeat of Voldemort. Perhaps we should ask why a child felt the need to face off against a Dark Lord, alone and without hope while adults stood by. Perhaps we should ask why the Headmaster of a school created an assumedly illegal portkey to send an injured student into a locked room, rather than sending them to St Mungo’s or at least the school infirmary. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>There is something wrong with a society which would permit the events which occurred throughout Lord Potter’s life to be considered acceptable.</em>
</p><hr/><p>The outrage from the article detailing Harry’s defeat of Voldemort had been about on par with their expectations. The wards shredded howlers as soon as they entered the property and each day, they would find a small mound of red paper by the window the owls commonly used. Other reporters at the Daily Prophet began running article after article digging through Harry’s life, covering everything they could find and plastering it over the pages in vindictive glory.</p><p>Once more he was called a liar and attention seeking, speculation rose over whether he was turning dark. Some even went so far as to claim Harry should be imprisoned – he had admitted to killing someone – but they never gained much traction. The entire community agreed that whoever had killed Voldemort had carried out a public service and should not be penalised for it.</p><p>Rita Skeeter was particularly aggressive, apparently still sore that Harry had refused to permit her to interview him. She began printing salacious articles accusing him of becoming the next Dark Lord, of carrying on a secret relationship with everyone from Draco to Neville’s grandmother.</p><p>In retaliation, Harry provided an anonymous tip to the Aurors, attentioned to Amelia Bones because she was the only one he trusted in the Ministry anymore, that the woman was an unregistered animagus. When they investigated further, it was discovered that she had used her form to spy on many confidential meetings in the ministry itself. She was arrested without question and remanded to Azkaban pending her trial: they first had to compile a comprehensive list of her crimes. Though, who knew how long that would take.</p><p>Harry did his best to ignore the public reaction to the article, avoiding going out in Britain wherever possible. Thankfully, the goblins allowed their trainees to floo directly into their banks so that when Harry was on British soil, he didn’t have to face the public at all.</p><p>Harry received a letter from Selwyn about his properties. He had finally finished with Gryffindor, expressing his savage pleasure at removing the overabundance of red and gold from the otherwise lovely homes. The Slytherin properties had been cleared by the Dark Arts expert but he was stuck slogging through the Black properties. Harry happily thanked the poor man for his efforts and resolved to tell the Hogrod next time to give the man a bonus. He sent instructions through to clear the land on the Gaunt property and sent a letter to Sirius, officially offering the land to the new department for the construction of a child home.</p><p>Severus had started work on his improved fertility potion with the aim of increasing the likelihood of multiple births. He had to be careful what plants he used; they all had to be magical in nature or otherwise it would risk resulting in squibs. He, personally, did not have an issue with squibs. They still had magical blood and were able to produce magical children.</p><p>He thought it stupid, the old pureblood practice of abandoning squibs to the muggle world. There was a significant difference between someone having a small magical core and not having a core at all. But he knew in order for the potion to be considered successful, they needed to have magical children birthed. Their population was dwindling and while creating squibs would help in the long run, it was not preferable or idea.</p><p>Using only magical plants was their best bet at ensuring a magical birth. It would make the potion expensive, but there was little other choice. Longbottom had been correct when he had cited the study into fertility potions.</p><p>There was a direct link between using magical plants in fertility potions and maintain the magical ability of the foetus. Over the years, many poor and desperate people would use poor quality fertility potions to produce a child, only to find out it would be a squib as the quality of the ingredients was too low. It was sad, but true, that many of the children were then cast aside into the muggle world because they weren’t magical.</p><p>The magical lychee plant seemed to be the key to creating the improved potion, but it still needed refining. The potion would be expensive, granted, but perhaps those in most need could be included in the trial, allowing them to access the potion they needed without the costs associated.</p><p>The physical training with the goblins had slowly gotten easier over time for Harry, they had moved on from French warding and were now exploring the different subcategories of African warding. The cultures were so rich and varied it was not surprising that there were vast differences between countries and cultures around the world. Different enough from each other as Egyptian warding was to French. Hilstrike was demanding and uncompromising, he had no hesitation in pushing Harry and Alexander until he had the results he was after.</p><p>One of the other goblin masters Dunmil had taken an interest in Harry’s blood quill scar. Every couple of days he would track Harry down and take him aside for diagnostics and spell casting. There had been no improvement as far as Harry could tell, but if the goblin ever figured out how to remove the curse, he would be grateful.</p><p>For the first time since Harry had entered the wizarding world, October 31<sup>st</sup> passed unremarked. There was no disaster, no attack, he was not raped or hurt in any way. Instead, Severus and he spent a quiet night together. As dusk fell, Severus took Harry to Godrics Hollow, to see his parents graves for the first time in his life. The pair stood together, looking down at the white marble, the vague remnants of the shrine it used to be littering the cold earth. In the quiet of the dark, Severus shared stories of his childhood, bringing a little light to the moment. It was enough, they were enough, their lives were enough.</p><hr/><p>November second rolled around with no further insanity from the Ministry. Harry and Severus arrived early, hoping that no one else would be there. They were in luck and so, the pair immediately went to their own seats in the neutral faction and began casting diagnostics. Harry discovered quickly that the seats were soaked in a compulsion potion, it was quite strong now, which would be the only reason why Harry noticed its influence.</p><p>This particular potion increased in strength as it sat and was designed to circumvent occlumency shields, which is why Severus, who had been sitting in the neutral seats longer than Harry, had not noticed. Harry knew that it had only been luck and chance that he had noticed due to his cursebreaking training.</p><p>Severus should know how to brew the antidote, and he would need to do it soon. They had to apply it to all of the seats before the next Wizengamot session. Pocketing the results, Harry shared an alarmed look with Severus before settling down in his seat. He did notice a thread of worry and guilt began to worm its way into Severus’ emotions but there was nothing he could do. Harry made a mental note to ask Severus about his feelings after the session was over. Not long after, people began to arrive, filling the room with their chatter.</p><p>“Welcome back, members of the Wizengamot. We are sitting once more for the November session of 1998; do we have any announcements?” Greengrass opened the third session of the season, when the silence stretched for a full minute, he cracked his gavel down. “Moving on, let us review the bills raised during our previous session. Lord Prince, if you could please re-read the bill you proposed?” Greengrass requested.</p><p>"Thank you Chief Warlock Greengrass,” Severus produced the bill and they all listened as he spoke about the protection of the magical children of Britain before the floor was opened to debate.</p><p>“Thank you, Lord Prince, now, at the end of the bill reading during our last session, a taskforce was set up to investigate the findings of Lord Prince. Lord Black, Lord McGonagall and Lord Bones, are you prepared to share your findings with the Wizengamot?” Chief Warlock Greengrass asked.</p><p>The three rose and moved to stand before the assembled court. Sirius magicked up a lectern for them to use. “Members of this esteemed body,” Lord Bones began, “As instructed, we have spent the last month reviewing the data provided by Lord Prince as well as investigating the different sources of data available to us.” He shuffled a few pieces of parchment and waved his wand over them, duplicating the summary for all of the members.</p><p>“I will not provide you all with copies of the data, there is a rather large quantity that we had to sift through together but,” Bones glared at Fawley when the man looked like he would protest the exclusion, “we will be happy to provide copies of the data to anyone who requests it.”</p><p>Lord McGonagall spoke up this time. “We reviewed the information available, going back as far as the past two hundred years instead of the fifty that Lord Prince investigated, to ensure that the trend existed, even accounting for war time distortions. In a nutshell, Lord Prince is correct, there is an issue.”</p><p>There was an immediate uproar, the light wing rising and shouting down the statement, Fawley at the fore, refusing to believe that magical children were at risk. Greengrass cracked his gavel down harshly and they sat, expressions mutinous.</p><p>“We reviewed the ministry's initial accidental magic log, as well as the admittance and graduation logs from Hogwarts for the same time period. We also spent some time reading through what information we could find in the muggle world to see where some of the lost children are disappearing to. In reality, the statistics offered by the reporter who began all this were conservative at best.” Sirius explained.</p><p>“If you review our summary, you can see that there is an alarming trend.” Sirius continued. “One in ten muggleborn or muggle raised children who produce accidental magic do not make it to eleven in order to receive their Hogwarts letter. Of them, 60% die and the other 40% move countries. Of the muggleborn and muggle raised children who make it to Hogwarts, approximately one a year will disappear never to return. Most of these children die; approximately one in every eight moves overseas.”</p><p>Lord McGonagall glared at the Wizengamot, reminding many of the current Headmistress, his sister. “This legislation is long overdue. Our children are dying and it is time we take action. While it may seem extreme to remove children from their parents, those parents are not fit to raise them. We must protect our future, we are a dying race, there has been too much infighting and war lately. We cannot afford to lose the children we get.”</p><p>The silence was heavy and thick. Even Fawley looked pale by the reality staring him in the face. Harry wished he could see Dumbledore’s face; the man had always insisted that abuse wasn’t really a thing. To have the taskforce prove it was an issue was deeply satisfying. He knew the man would be furious at the loss of control, but it was too late for the Minister to speak out against the legislation. He had gambled and lost.</p><p>The task force had agreed with the statistics and it could not be disputed as the three Lords were from different factions, preventing anyone from claiming manipulation of the data. It would have been a masterful stroke if it had worked out for dumbledore, but it had not. He failed, entirely, to prove that muggles were harmless and did not abuse magical children. Harry didn’t care what kind of repercussions they would have to face. They were protecting children who desperately needed it and that was all that mattered.</p><p>“I propose we vote for the bill, will anyone second the motion?”</p><p>“I will second the motion.” Five different lords stood, scattered around the room.</p><p>“Thank you, my lords. For this type of legislation, we only need a majority vote. Please light your wands for those supporting this bill.” Greengrass requested.</p><p>The vote was unanimous.</p><p>“Thank you, perhaps, as you are so familiar with the situation, Lords Bones, Black and McGonagall, you would consent to meeting with me to discuss the development of the necessary ministerial department to ensure that the legislation is carried out with the utmost urgency.” Lord Greengrass requested, they all consented and decided to move on to the next item on the docket.</p><p>They debated and voted on a few small items; discussing subsidies for healthcare and taxes on potions ingredients from China.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>It's crazy to think it's been another month! I have been making progress with Part 9, but my brain has been both itching for me to go back and re-read this entire series to be sure I haven't missed anything important, and it has been demanding to finish this bloody Yuri On Ice! plot bunny. Thankfully I have finally finished the story for YOI, so have set it aside to edit later before posting. Now, I have gone all the way back to the start to read everything over again, which is... weird. It's weird. I have been making notes and minor edits, so maybe (one day, not any time soon) I will go back and swap out all those 'irrespectives' everyone complained about for other words lol. </p><p>To be honest, the way I write it pretty much how I talk, so it doesn't seem weird to me to use words like 'irrespective', but I can acknowledge when I use a word too much. Alas, not taking the time to fish the entire story before going back and editing it mean's that some things are lost miss in the process.</p><p>Anyway, we have important plot happening! Excitement Plus! This is where some of the new tag's I have for this fic will start to kick in. There are references to dub-con gender-swapping, and miscarriage. If this bothers you I seriously recommending unsubscribing because this is not going away.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/><p>“I would like to move onto new proposals, Lord Fawley, I believe you have the first item on the docket?” Greengrass gestured towards the irritating Lord.</p><p>"Thank you Chief Warlock Greengrass,” Fawley magicked the parchments to duplicate themselves, one set going to each member of the chamber. “I would like to present an amendment to the Marriage Act of 1604. I will read the amendment now. This is an amendment to:</p><p> </p><p>Provision inducement of the unmarried wizarding public of Magical Britain into legally binding marital contracts with the intention of improving the diminishing population.</p><p> </p><ul>
<li><strong>All those over the age of majority, being seventeen years of age, but under the age of sixty, prior to the implementation of this bill, should enter into a legally binding marriage contract within the subsequent six months.</strong></li>
</ul><ul>
<li>
<strong>Those who reach the age of majority following the implementation of this bill will have six months following their seventeenth birthday to enter into a legally binding marital contract.</strong>
<ol>
<li>Exemptions will be provided to those who are of age but have not yet graduated from their schooling of choice, be it a certified institution or via tutors, with sufficient qualifications in order that they be a contributing member of society.
<ul>
<li>Should the person of the age of majority continue to be attending to their schooling, they will have six months following graduation in which to enter into a legally binding marital contract with another party.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ul><ul>
<li>
<strong>Should the citizens of magical Britain fail to comply, a fine of 25% on the citizens current net worth would be applied and a further three months granted to comply.</strong>
<ol>
<li>Should the fined citizens continue to fail to comply, a stay in Azkaban of no less than one month and no more than three months will be applied. Following their release, another three months to complete a contract will be granted.
<ul>
<li>If the fined and incarcerated citizens continue to fail to comply, an additional fine of 25% of their current net worth as well as a stay in Azkaban of no less than one month and no more than six months will be applied. Following their release, another three months to complete a contract will be granted. Should they continue to fail to comply, this stipulated punishment will be repeated until such a time as the citizen complies.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ul><ul>
<li>As stipulated under the Marriage Act of 1604 sub Section V Part 2, those under the age of majority but over the age of fifteen may also enter into a marriage contract with the written consent of their parent or guardian.</li>
<li>This amendment shall remain in effect until such a time as the Ministry deems that it is no longer required.</li>
</ul><p> </p><p>Harry rose, the silence deafening as Fawley finished talking. "You want to force everyone in magical Britain to marry." his voice was cold and heavy as it dropped into the space.</p><p>"We must all do our part for the greater good of magical Britain." Fawley bared his teeth at Harry.</p><p>He shook with the effort of repressing the urge to scream. "And what does the greater good have to do with people getting married? In what realm of thought does this benefit us as a people? All you are doing is taking away our choice!"</p><p>"I don't see why you are complaining, you are already happily married." The sarcasm was thick over Fawley’s last two words.</p><p>"You have not answered the question Lord Fawley. My personal situation notwithstanding, explain to us why you are proposing this piece of legislation? How does it benefit our community?" Harry demanded; voice frosty with rage.</p><p>"It will stimulate the economy. Also, those who are married are more likely to bear children, assuming they can." Fawley sneered at Harry and he couldn't help but flush a little; the clear jab at his being married to another man there.</p><p>"The economic stimulus would be false, once the initial rush of marriages were complied with, growth would fall below the average as there would be no more until the next generation comes of age. And I do not see how people forced into marrying would be suddenly more willing to reproduce." Harry glared.</p><p>"Well then, I was hoping this amendment would get through on its merits alone.” Harry had to stifle his exclamation over the amendment having any merits. “but I see I will have to share the details of the next bill we are proposing in order to motivate you all appropriately." Fawley coughed, bowing formally to the Chief Warlock.</p><p>"Chief Warlock Greengrass,” Fawley cut through the murmur of disbelief, holding up a second set of parchments. “I have a bill I would like to propose relating to the population prosperity and increase of the birth rate. I will read the bill now. This is a bill to:</p><p> </p><p>Counteract the significant decrease in the population of magical Britain. As such the Ministry proposes that all those who are currently within a legally binding marriage and of child bearing age (between the ages of seventeen and sixty) shall participate in a drive to increase the population.</p><p> </p><p>Be it enacted by Lady Magic, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords of the Land, in this present Wizengamot assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: —</p><ul>
<li><strong>Those married couples who have not yet borne a child to their union are required to fall pregnant within the next year.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Those couples who have borne a single child but no more to their union are required to fall pregnant within the next two years.</strong></li>
</ul><ul>
<li><strong>Once a couple has married, if they weren’t prior to the institution of this legislation, they will have one year to bear a child and two years following the birth of their first to fall pregnant with their second.</strong></li>
</ul><ul>
<li>
<strong>Those couples who have borne more than two children to their union are not required to participate but will be granted Ministerial privilege if additional children are produced within the scope of the legislation.</strong>
<ol>
<li>Ministerial privilege will be defined and determined on a case by case basis.</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ul><ul>
<li>
<strong>The court will consider the dissolution of marriages on the basis of infertility or incompatibility if:</strong>
<ol>
<li>No child is borne within two years of marriage</li>
<li>Infertility can be proven on the part of one or both parties.</li>
<li>Both parties are of the same gender and are thus unable to reproduce</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ul><ul>
<li>
<strong>Should the couple fail to comply, a Ministry mandated appointment with an appropriate fertility specialist will be required, the results of which must be presented to the Ministry. </strong>
<ol>
<li>Restrictions will also be placed on the couples’ access to government benefits and facilities until such a time as they comply or provide evidence on why compliance is not possible.</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ul><ul>
<li><strong>The Ministry recommends that those who are about to be bonded in marriage confirm their fertility with a ministry approved healer prior to their union.</strong></li>
</ul><ul>
<li><strong>This legislation will remain in place for a minimum of 20 years to ensure a genuine boost to the magical population of Britain following the institution of this legislation.</strong></li>
</ul><p> </p><p>Harry felt horror wash over him. Looking around the hall he could see most of the men nodding along as Fawley spoke. They were mostly over 75, had already produced their heir-and-a-spare. He shared a terrified look with Sirius, this bill was going to pass. There was only a handful of them who would be affected directly by either or both bills and the rest of them could only see the dwindling population.</p><p>This was a disaster.</p><p>Greengrass called for the usual month of deliberation, but Harry could see this was already a lost cause. The older generation were so fixated on preserving their community they were willing to throw away the freedoms of the youth in order to ensure it. </p><p>He knew that the childbearing bill was retaliation from Dumbledore for his coming out and being married to Severus. He hated the old man even more for putting not just them, but everyone through this. Luckily, they had a solution in the gender swap potion, even though it was still in testing.</p><p>The rest of the session passed in a blur for Harry, lost as he was in thought over being forced to become pregnant before he had even had the chance to speak with Severus about it. Horror strangled their bond, echoing back and forth between them.</p><p>Harry didn’t see Dumbledore’s satisfied expression throughout the remainder of the session.</p><hr/><p>Severus could see that Harry was shaken deeply once they got home from the November sitting of the Wizengamot session. The younger man had not spoken a word since they had left the chambers and Severus was growing worried. He stood, awkwardly, by the fireplace, trying to come up with some way to help his husband with whatever was wrong. Harry had sent a burst of horror and fear down the bond before it deadened, turning numb.</p><p>He was concerned over what was bothering Harry so much. They were already married, so the marriage act amendment was not the source of trouble. While it was frustrating, they did not really have to worry about any of Harry’s friends as they had been drifting into their own pairings. The situation would not be popular with the youth, but it wasn’t the end of the world, so that could not be the issue.</p><p>Severus considered the second bill, the one for children. If it had been before the gender swap potion, they would have been forced into divorcing in order to remarry and create offspring. With the gender swap potion trialling in America, they had options. He would need to speak with The Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers to see about expanding the trial into Britain so that those gay couples here could take advantage of it without having to wait for the American trial to end, which would be too late.</p><p>He paused, a thought abruptly occurring to him. He and Harry had never actually talked about children. They were both Lords, Harry many times over, so having children was not really up for debate. At some point in time, they would have had to find a solution to their situation, their lines could not be permitted to die out again. Perhaps Harry did not want children? Perhaps he did not believe he would be a good parent. Perhaps he thought Severus didn’t want children?</p><p>Thoughts ran in circles around his head, tangling and snarling, and without realising it, he had sank down onto the couch next to Harry, staring vacantly into space, stomach churning.</p><p>He was unsure how long they sat there in silence, thinking and worrying, before Hermione walked into the loungeroom, halting at their pale faces.</p><p>“Harry? Severus? Are you alright?” She asked, her voice loud in the quiet of the room.</p><p>Harry jerked beside him, blinking at Hermione in surprise, then blinking at Severus. “Hermione, can you get everyone here. We have bad news.” Harry’s voice rasped out.</p><p>She frowned, but nodded and moved to the fireplace, beginning the arduous process of fire calling their friends. Severus turned to Harry, gathering up his cold hands and chafing them a little.</p><p>“Harry, what is wrong? I understand that this is a blow, but I am not sure what has caused your reaction.” Severus asked quietly, hoping to get an idea of what was going through his husband's head.</p><p>Harry swallowed heavily, looking away for a moment. “We have never spoken of wanting children Severus. I figured we could talk about them after everything had been settled. It makes me angry that the choice will be taken from so many just because Dumbledore has it in for us. I don’t want to spend the next year or more as a woman Severus. I am not ready to bear children, to give up my life for something so big. I am only just starting to get myself together and now it will have to be put on hold? All of the progress I have made in my training thrown away because of the Ministry. I am just so angry and scared and devastated Severus.” Harry murmured quietly, words running together in their flood to pour out.</p><p>Severus squeezed Harry’s hands. He recognised what Harry was saying, tried to imagine what it would have been like during his apprenticeship. He paused, looking deeply into Harry’s eyes, touching lightly on their bond which was filled with Harry’s anguish. Severus felt the resolve grow to do the right thing, recognising the moment for what it was, what it could be; proof that he was growing as a person.</p><p>“Perhaps I could bear the first child?” He offered quietly.</p><p>He was gratified to see Harry’s mouth drop open. Unable to resist, he smirked. “I am a perfectly healthy man; I am sure that I could bear at least one child. I should at least bear the Prince heir, I think.”</p><p>From one moment to the next, he suddenly had his arms full of Harry, the younger man having thrown himself at Severus, kissing him deeply. He could feel that awful tangle of emotion that had been overwhelming both of them easing, unknotting, smoothing out to warmth and love and hope. Wrapping his arms around Harry, he squeezed a little, finding comfort in the moment.</p><p>A cough sounded to his left, causing Harry to shift back a little and glare around at whomever it was. Looking around, Severus could see that Hermione had summoned Draco, Lucius, Pansy and the twins. Neville, Sirius and Yarrow must have arrived after they had extracted themselves from the conversations which normally occurred after a session.</p><p>Severus had been more concerned with getting Harry out of there He had seen the malicious gleam in Dumbledore’s eyes as they departed. He could admit that Dumbledore was likely to win this battle, but they would be able to counter it with Severus’ potion. It would end up more as a tie; he looked forward to seeing Dumbledore’s frustration when he realised Severus and Harry would not be splitting up.</p><p>Harry grumbled a little, but eventually extracted himself from Severus’ lap, settling on the couch beside him. Their hands tangled tightly together. Severus had never been one for hand holding, but Harry was still distressed so allowed it to remain.</p><p>“Thank you all for coming,” Severus began. “Sirius, Yarrow, have you said anything yet?” The two men shook their heads, both seeming to struggle to find words. Severus couldn’t blame them, this was unprecedented.</p><p>“They only just got here with everyone else Severus,” Hermione explained, “Care to fill us in on what’s happened now?”</p><p>“Fawley proposed two new bills that will affect all of us in one way or another.” Severus began.</p><p>“You have six months to get married.” Harry supplied when Severus hesitated.</p><p>“What?” Hermione asked.</p><p>Harry shook his head, swallowing harshly. “The Ministry is proposing a law that everyone over 17 and under 60 has to get married within 6 months. If you are under 17, once you come of age you have 6 months to get married, or 6 months after graduating from school.”</p><p>“No,” Pansy breathed, sharing a look with Neville.</p><p>“It gets worse.” Sirius offered, looking ashen.</p><p>“How can it get worse than forced marriage?!” Draco’s voice was uncomfortably shrill.</p><p>Severus could only share a devastated look with Lucius who immediately looked concerned. “They are proposing a ‘population prosperity’ bill. All married couples must bear a child within a year of the bill being passed if they have none or bear a second child within two years if they have one already. All couples under the age of sixty will be required to participate.”</p><p>The silence was a thick blanket as it settled over them all. Lucius went white, shaking hands covering his face.</p><p>Narcissa had long been desperate for a second child, they had tried for years to fall pregnant before and after Draco, each attempt taking more and more out of her until finally, the last time, Narcissa had almost died when she had miscarried at 20 weeks.</p><p>Yarrows voice was quiet, but still filled the space. “If you fail to marry, the ministry wants to fine you, fine you and incarcerate you, and will continue to do so until you have nothing left or comply. If you can prove that your partner is infertile, the Ministry will sanction divorce on those grounds so you can remarry and try again.”</p><p>Lucius’ head snapped up, eyes horrified. “I will not leave Narcissa and I will not see her die for this. I will become a French citizen and give up everything British we have before I allow that to happen.” The blonde hissed.</p><p>Severus’ heart twinged for his friend, he knew how much his family meant to him. Lucius loved Narcissa so much he was willing to give it all up for her.</p><p>“Lucius,” Severus offered softly, and the man turned to glare at him. “I have started work on a new fertility potion, this one will be better, stronger than anything before. It might offer the out you need. We have a little time, so please, calm down. There is another month before the bill is passed, and, because you already have Draco, you have time before having to try again.”</p><p>Lucius looked away, swallowing heavily, before rising and departing through the floo without another word. Draco sighed heavily in his wake.</p><p>“Is there nothing that can be done to prevent the bills being passed?” Pansy asked quietly.</p><p>Harry shook his head. “We do not have enough sway. Most everyone in the Wizengamot is old, they have already produced their heir-and-a-spare, so they will not be affected. The way they see it, is that they have done their part for the magical population, it’s now our turn to step up and do our fair share. They see us as slacking because we have not already married and started families.” He wrinkled his nose in disgust.</p><p>“We need to get the word out.” Sirius offered finally. “I will spread the word amongst my seventh years, warning them of what is to come.” Neville voiced his agreement to do the same.</p><p>Severus nodded, “I am planning to contact The Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers to see if they will allow the gender swap potions trial to extend to Britain, so that we have greater choice in the matter.”</p><p>“That is a wonderful idea Severus,” Hermione smiled weakly, she turned to Draco with glossy eyes. “Well Draco, how do you feel about getting hitched?”</p><p>The blonde blinked in shock for a moment, before he cracked and laughed, soon they all joined in, the tension and fear bleeding out of the room as they laughed instead of crying. Eventually they settled enough so that Draco could give the fuzzy brunette a fond smile.</p><p>“Nothing would make me happier Hermione Granger.” He replied, pressing a soft kiss to the back of her hand.</p><p>They all clapped and cheered, deciding as a group that alcohol was the only solution to their lives being upended so violently.</p><hr/><p>
  
</p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Healing runs haywire at St Mungo's!</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>Whispers and rumours abound from our premier healing facility that healing magic is running rampant!</em>
</p><p>
  <em>One patient reported that they were admitted with numerous facial fractures including a broken nose from a rogue bludger in a game of backyard quidditch. When a healer cast an episkey to heal their nose, all of the fractures and their nose were miraculously healed!</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Another patient reported that they broke all of the bones in their arm, but when the traditional treatment of skele-grow was applied, the bones multiplied until the patient had four fully-formed arms!</em>
</p><p>
  <em>No healers have commented on these occurrences, citing healer/patient privilege. We will continue to investigate this bizarre happenstance and report with more!</em>
</p><hr/><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Part of me is totally soft for the idea of Lucius and Narcissa wanting more children but the Black inbreeding manifesting as her difficulty having children. I love the idea of Lucius being madly in love with his wife and standing by her even though he would have been encouraged to take a mistress/new wife to have another child and secure the family line.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I have returned! Sorry for the week delay, family came to visit and I needed to finish importing all of my new edits into the story. I have made some minor amendments to previous sections, the biggest one would be the final chapter of section 5 where I have changed the trajectory of Ron's subplot. I was originally going to have him being a bad guy and coming back at the end to get revenge for his ruined life. Except, when I thought about it, it felt like it wouldn't fit. He was required, by law, to attend community service and mind healer appointments for a year. Instead, of being a bad guy, Ron will now be a narcissist who is entirely useless to his family and will go off into the distance to have a fulfilling career as a quidditch keeper for the Chudley Cannons. Not all bad people end up with their lives ruined, not all good people end up with happy endings. </p>
<p>Other than that, the only minor amendments I made were to flesh little things out, but nothing plot changing. I did remove a comment in one of the earlier sections in a newspaper article that said the Ministry were pushing through reform for Azkaban. It is important later on that that not be the case. Instead the Dementors have been removed? Died? Banished? whatever. They aren't there anymore.</p>
<p>Anyway, here I am with a chapter of plotty plot ness. Enjoy?</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/>
<p>Harry didn’t see Severus for two days after the November Wizengamot session. Initially, he had been worried that something was wrong. Their discussion about Severus bearing their first child had been brief and intense, but they hadn’t revisited the topic. The next morning, after they had all downed hangover potions, Harry had realised that Severus had already vanished into his lab. Checking the bond had revealed very little beyond the fact that Severus was intensely focused, which indicated he was brewing something difficult but not unfamiliar or experimental. If he was working on an experimental potion, there was inevitably flares of irritation and frustration. If it was something new, there was always a tinge of excitement.</p>
<p>It wasn’t until he woke up alone the next day that Harry began to worry. Finishing breakfast, he checked with Dobby who told him Severus had not left the lab since entering before dawn the day prior. He had barely eaten anything on any of the trays Dobby had left for him and had not slept at all.</p>
<p>Alarm flared through Harry. Severus had not been like this in a long time and the regression immediately set off warning bells. Did the change in their relationship result in the man retreating? Was Severus unhappy about children or building a family together? Checking the bond once more, he could only feel that same unwavering intensity.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Harry didn’t have the time to explore further, he would barely have enough time to make it to training with the goblins, so wouldn’t be able to check-in with Severus until he returned tonight.</p>
<p>The day passed in a bit of a blur for Harry, he was worried and distracted and the goblins punished him for it. Training was brutal and Harry even lost control of a ward he was dismantling, resulting in a small explosion and a shiny new burn along his arm. He hadn’t lost control like that ever, so it was rather depressing to finally fail at something. Hilstrike frowned at him before setting him to dig a hole in one of their higher-level mining pits. Grumbling all the while about useless distracted apprentices. There was a tinge of fondness to the muttering, which helped take the sting out of the complaint, but still, Harry was upset he had failed so spectacularly.</p>
<p>In the end, he was grateful for the manual labour, it was enough to settle his mind, letting him focus so that by the time he was due home, he could shower and change out of his filthy clothes before going down to the lab where Severus was still ensconced.</p>
<p>Opening the door quietly, he watched for a few moments, as Severus brewed. The man looked like shit; hair stringy and unwashed, grey shirt smeared with ingredients, there were heavy bags under his eyes and a pasty cast to his skin.</p>
<p>Glancing around, Harry could see that Severus had apparently been working on only the one potion, there was only the one cauldron in use, the rest all clean and neatly stacked away. A heavy tome was open on one side of the bubbling pot and the other had a chopping board, knife and numerous ingredients littered around it.</p>
<p>Moving slowly and quietly into the room, Harry could see Severus was counting his stirs intently, watching the colour of the potion shift from bright green through to a more teal colour. He set down the stirrer just as the potion changed to a true blue and Harry coughed lightly.</p>
<p>Severus looked up, blinking, until he realised Harry was standing there and granted him a tired smile.</p>
<p>“Harry, what brings you here?” He asked, voice weary.</p>
<p>“It has been almost two days Severus. You just vanished, what is going on?” Harry asked, watching as Severus’ attention shifted back to the cauldron to watch the fumes as they shimmered in the air.</p>
<p>“I thought I left you a note… Perhaps I forgot. Sorry Harry…” He trailed off, snatching up the mortar and pestle to sprinkle the next ingredient over the surface of the potion. As it sunk down, it changed to a rich indigo colour.</p>
<p>“Severus.” Harry stated, perhaps a touch sharper than he intended.</p>
<p>The man jerked and looked up. “Sorry Harry,” Severus apologised again, sounding worn thin.</p>
<p>“What potion are you brewing.” Harry demanded finally when it seemed that Severus was not going to say anything further.</p>
<p>“The counter for the compulsion potion on the Wizengamot seats.” He finally replied, and Harry caught a flash of shame through their bond.</p>
<p>“Ok, do you need to work non-stop for two days in order to brew this?” Harry asked, striding over to stand closer to Severus.</p>
<p>“Well no, but…” Severus trailed off, refusing to make eye contact with Harry.</p>
<p>“Severus. What is going on?” Harry demanded once more.</p>
<p>Severus flinched, much to Harry’s growing concern. “The compulsion potion was mine.” He mumbled and Harry stilled. “Dumbledore told me to brew it years ago, it was still legal back then, just, but I still brewed the potion for him.”</p>
<p>Harry couldn’t really find much in the way of words for the older man, he could feel the pain rippling through the bond so reached out to take one of Severus’ hands.</p>
<p>“I have to fix this. I can’t undo what that potion has done, but I can brew the counter potion, so it doesn’t happen again.” Severus continued.</p>
<p>“Alright Severus,” Harry exhaled. “How can I help?”</p>
<hr/>
<p>It took another day of brewing before Severus could finish the potion, but with Harry’s help, he managed to have a shower and eat something before he fainted from hunger. Harry put him to bed the next evening after he had finished his day of training with the goblins. Severus passed out almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, leaving Harry to make his way to the Ministry alone. He had decanted all of the potion into a large bottomless flask and tucked it into a pocket. Shrouded in his cloak, he strode through the Ministry Atrium and down to the Wizengamot chambers with purpose. Harry knew he needed to remain careful and vigilant, but the cloak helped as always.</p>
<p>Letting himself into the empty chambers, he withdrew the jug and set it on the floor. Rising he stood as if to conduct and began sweeping his hands in wide movements, bringing the potion out of the opened flask, dispersing it into a mist, and distributing it over the seats. There was enough that he could apply the antidote to all of the chairs in the room, not just the neutral faction. Harry hated the idea of someone being missed just because they thought they knew what Dumbledore had done. It was better to be safe than sorry.</p>
<p>Emptying the flask, he quickly banished it, scrubbing his magical signature from the room and leaving briskly.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Once Severus explained to The Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers what was going to occur in Britain and why they wanted to extend the potion trial, their agreement came on swift wings. So, Severus immediately threw himself into brewing, reaching out to George to act as his lab assistant while they tried to prepare enough gender swap potions for their community.</p>
<p>Severus also spent all the time he could talking to Neville about the seedlings he had from Salazar’s chambers. Together they managed to work out a recipe for a new fertility potion, it was entirely untested and a bit rough around the edges, but Severus was sure that within the next few weeks, he would be able to refine it far enough to be eligible for a clinical trial throughout Britain. It was unfortunately expensive, but it would mean that those mature adults who struggled, would have a chance to bear a second child, no matter the financial burden. He hoped that a single dose would be enough, but he wouldn’t know for sure until the trials started.</p>
<p>He actively tried not to think about his agreement with Harry. Once the bill passed, he would take the gender swap potion, and they would begin trying to have a child. Severus was going to bear their child; the Prince heir.</p>
<p>Their firstborn.</p>
<hr/>
<p>“Severus, come on, we have been brewing relentlessly for three days, take a break and look over some pranks with me, will you?” George huffed, leaning against the bench next to the bubbling cauldron.</p>
<p>Severus tried to throw a glare at him, but he had to admit, George was right. They had been brewing almost nonstop both to prepare enough of the gender swap potion for the second clinical trial, but he had also been working on refining the fertility potion. One of The Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers chairmen was meeting with him tomorrow and he had to have the potion at a higher quality for it to be considered for its own clinical trial.</p>
<p>Slumping down on the stool he kept nearby, Severus ran an exhausted hand over his face. He cringed away, glaring at the hand when he realised it stank. Sniffing his robes suspiciously, he resisted the urge to gag. Looking up, he could see George was trying hard not to laugh at him.</p>
<p>“Perhaps we should shower first? Then we can sit somewhere other than the lab, have something to eat, and you can look over some notes on something entirely different.”</p>
<p>With a sigh, Severus agreed, trudging from the room with George trailing behind him. He showed the gangly redhead to Sirius’ bathroom and headed to his own, taking the time to enjoy the blissfully hot water and clean clothes against his skin.</p>
<p>They settled down in the kitchen, Dobby immediately jumping into whipping up a meal for the pair of exhausted potioneers.</p>
<p>“How are you and your family doing? Severus asked as they shared a pot of tea.</p>
<p>George shrugged, expression a little lost. “Dad is getting better, but he still seems a little lost. Most of his life has been a lie and now he has to try and figure out who he is. Fred and I do the best we can, but it’s only really us and him now with Bill and Charlie back at work.”</p>
<p>“What about Percy?”</p>
<p>George sneered. “Percy the Prat is so far up Dumbledore’s ass he can see sunlight. Once he was promoted to Undersecretary of the Minister, he was lost to us. Ron is at Hogwarts; the mind healing has helped him deal with a lot of shit, but he seems to have become entirely self-centred. All he cares about is quidditch and becoming the next keeper for the Chudley Cannons. It’s an improvement to listening to him spewing vitriol, but I don’t see him ever doing anything to help with dad.</p>
<p>“Ginny is still at St Mungo’s, the Healers say something happened during her early teens that messed with her mind and caused her to unnaturally fixate on Harry. Not that Molly or Dumbledore helped matters by encouraging her. They have her on potions to keep her calm, but apparently, she exists in a fantasy world where she and Harry got together and are madly in love. They tried to put her in therapy but she refused to respond. She won’t entertain a world where Harry isn’t with her. I went to see her once and let me tell you, it was creepy and insane. They will never let her out.</p>
<p>“Molly is in Azkaban of course. None of us has visited her. The whole family is in ruins.” George ran a tired hand through his hair. “Fred and I are doing the best we can for dad but… we can’t ask Charlie to come back, Dragons are his life and he has no more holiday time. Bill is contracted by the goblins to spend another year in Egypt, so he can’t help either. We just aren’t sure what to do, you know?”</p>
<p>Severus paused as he took a sip of tea, a thought occurring to him. “I am sure Harry or I own a farmhouse property. From memory, it is currently uninhabited and the land is going to seed. It would be a massive favour to us if Arthur, someone we trust, would consider spending some time at the property getting the farm back up and running. Perhaps some time away from his life would help give him some perspective.”</p>
<p>George looked conflicted at the idea and opened his mouth to protest. Severus raised a hand to silence him before he could speak.</p>
<p>“Don’t refuse, just think about it. Suggest it to Arthur. I will run it by Harry and get the details. We can talk about it again later.” Severus gave him a small smile and the younger man relaxed as dinner was served.</p>
<p>Arthur had always been kind to Severus on the occasions when they had interacted while Molly acted like he had tracked dragon dung into her kitchen. “Now, I believe you mentioned something about your experiments?”</p>
<p>George extracted a notebook from his robes with a smile, flipping it open to a page and pushing it across the table to Severus.</p>
<p>“I have been playing with the idea for a soap that looks like a standard bar of soap, but when used, it will change the colour into whatever it comes into contact with. Hopefully, it could change colour itself, something random and neon if possible, but if not, just producing one colour per block.” George explained.</p>
<p>The page was filled with rough notes, scribbled ingredients, possible stirring and heating combinations but nothing solid. Severus could almost feel his brain perking up at the different trivial challenge. Something light and fun. And, in the way of pranks, it was entirely harmless, so he was only too happy to help.</p>
<p>Summoning a quill and some ink, he began scribbling more notes and thoughts on the page. When food was served, he ate with one hand, chatting with George and making comments as he went. Severus was finding that he enjoyed working with George, they were very compatible when working with potions.</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <strong>
    
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>Dark Magic Sites Revived!</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <em>With the first rise of You-Know-Who, many places around Britain were razed with Dark Magic, preventing any kind of growth or change. Most notably was the site of an old pub in Hogsmeade – The Drippy Pipe, the old Potter Cottage in Godrics Hollow, and The Horned Shoe, a restaurant in Diagon Alley.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Reports from locals to both Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley indicate that the Dark Magic which has always clung to the sites is shifting at last! The Potter Cottage went under construction, no doubt on the order of Lord Potter himself, but the change in the public locations of Death Eater confrontations was unexpected.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>We spoke with a Dark Magic expert who advised that there is an unprecedented level of light magic permeating magical Britain. This has counteracted the lingering Dark Magic left over by the Death Eaters and You-Know-Who. With the expansion in Diagon Alley and the recovery of these previously lost sites, it is definitely heralding a new era of light in Britain. We have finally cast off the shadow of the dark past and are shining brightly into the future.</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I only realised a couple of days after posting the previous chapter, that my AN did not include a recommendation to go back and re-read the start of this part of the story. As I moved forward with writing this story, it began to bother me how absent Dumbledore was, so he has been given a greater presence.</p><p>Anyway, onward! Happy holidays and may this year not suck sweaty goat balls. Am I right?</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Ministerial Raids Continue</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>We all had hoped that once the dark faction abandoned Britain, that the fear and the Auror raids would cease. With the recommencement of the Wizengamot Season, so have the raids begun once more. Except now, the Aurors seem to be targeting the neutral faction of the Wizengamot. In mid-October, Lord Runcorn and his family were raided under a new ministerial law which permitted the confiscation of family heirlooms.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>In an unexpected move, Aurors have now carried out a raid on Lord Rosier and his ancestral home three days ago, confiscating numerous family heirlooms in the name of security and safety of our people.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>A Ministry spokesperson had this to say on the matter; “We received an anonymous tip that they had been communicating with known terrorists and as such, within the bounds of the law, raids have and will continue to be carried out to ensure the threat of dark magic has been eradicated from our country. Items that were deemed as suspicious and dark of nature were confiscated for ministerial review."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Is this an alarming new trend or the last holdouts of the dark movement that had once plagued this country? </em>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p>Within the same week, in the middle of November, they got two reports from the American gender swap study. The first man-turned-into-a-woman had fallen pregnant and, four days later, the wife of a woman-turned-into-a-man also fell pregnant.</p><p>It was still early, they had been checking the participants of the childbearing study bi-weekly, so they were only just showing as pregnant, but Severus and Harry both breathed a sigh of relief. If they could fall pregnant, they could hopefully stay pregnant, they could eventually produce children.</p><p>It had only been a month for the Nerve Repair System in its clinical trial, but the initial results were mixed. Some participants were responding well to the treatment, experiencing pain reduction, improved mobility, reduced tingling, numbness and tremors. They had yet to see much improvement in those who had been cursed into insanity by the cruciatus, which was disappointing as that was what Severus had designed the system for.</p><p>With the first packet of results, came a request for Severus to travel to America to assist. It seemed that they were having difficulties translating the information from the PET scans and using it to apply the spell correctly. Severus toyed with the parchment, sitting in the study, thinking about his options. He had to be back in Britain for the Wizengamot session at the start of December. But there was still time, a little over a week; he could go to America, try and figure out where the problem lay and rectify it with enough time to return for the next Wizengamot session.</p><p>“You’re very pensive.” Harry murmured in his ear, having walked in and wrapped his arms around Severus without him realising it.</p><p>Severus hummed, handing over the letter. “They want me to go to America for the Nerve Repair System trial. They are having difficulties with it.”</p><p>Harry nodded, scanning the parchment. “That’s a shame, when do you leave?”</p><p>Severus blinked at the easy acceptance and smiled gratefully. “I wanted to talk to you before I made plans, but I was thinking the sooner the better so I can be back in time for December Second.”</p><p>Harry smiled back, pressing a brief kiss to his temple. “Thank you for thinking of me, you better get moving, it sounds like they really need you.”</p><p>Severus shook his head, watching as Harry left the study. It was still surprising how far they had come since the heart bond ritual. He couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of how his younger self would have reacted to his current life. He had practically gone soft!</p><p>Darting off a quick reply confirming his imminent arrival, he sent it off with Hedwig. Dragging out one of his trunks, he began packing enough clothes to last him, as well as his Wizengamot robes just in case he had to return at the last minute. He had enough time to share dinner with Harry before heading to the Ministry. Making his way to the Department of International Transportation, Severus obtained a portkey to take him to America.</p><hr/><p>Harry was sitting at the bakery on the corner of Horizont Alley that he and his friends had visited a month ago. Severus had left two days prior and while yesterday had been alright when he had been at training with the goblins, today was a different matter. It was his day off and everyone just happened to be busy. Draco was with his Master, of course; Hermione had been appointed to complete a review of all legislation relating to house elves and the deadline was brutal; Neville and Sirius were both at Hogwarts. Preparations were being made for the end of term exams and they were both flat out; Pansy was even meeting with a new prospective client.</p><p>So here Harry sat, alone, because he couldn’t bare rattling around the apartment on his own for another second. He had found a partially sunny spot to keep warm in the late November cold, it was out of the way, allowing him to sit quietly amongst the other chattering shoppers.</p><p>He was eating his second chocolate croissant and morosely considering whether he should get a start on his Christmas shopping when a pair of middle-aged women sat down at a nearby table. They were ladened with bags and gossiping happily while they sipped their coffee and enjoyed their fresh scones. He was only half paying attention, more enjoying the ambience of being unremarked in a crowd of people, when something caught his ear.</p><p>“I bumped into Lady Runcorn the other day; she was quite upset.” The brunette woman commented.</p><p>“On no, what was wrong? Normally she is such a sweet woman!” The sandy blonde woman replied.</p><p>“The Ministry is refusing to return their heirlooms!” The first woman exclaimed, “You heard about that awful raid, didn’t you? About a month back?” She barely waited for the second woman’s nod of acknowledgement before continuing. “The poor dear was so upset, the whole thing came pouring out. The Aurors practically destroyed their home, tearing it apart to find anything and everything they considered dark. They took the Ladies tiara that they pass down to the next wife of the Lord of the Manor on their wedding day.”</p><p>The sandy blonde woman gasped. “I don’t believe for a second that it would classify as a dark heirloom! Those laws are an abomination, I am only glad that my family is too far removed from the main line for those blasted Aurors to worry about.”</p><p>“I know! Anyway, she was telling me that the Aurors said they would take the heirlooms for testing and provided they weren’t found to be dark; they would be returned.” The brunette continued.</p><p>“And you said they haven’t given them back yet? It’s been over a month!” The second woman exclaimed.</p><p>The first woman nodded. “It has, and now they have gone after the Rosiers, I dread to think of who will be targeted next.”</p><p>The sandy blonde woman sighed. “It is such a shame; when Dumbledore came into power, I thought all our troubles would be solved, but they just seem to be getting worse. All of the dark families have been driven out, which has made business at the apothecary take a downturn, I just don’t know what to do anymore!”</p><p>“Now they are going after the neutral families, what will happen to us? We don’t have light cores, when are they going to start targeting us?” The brunette woman replied worriedly.</p><p>“Hopefully they won't, we aren’t from the main lines of our families. Maybe we will be missed?” The sandy-haired woman did not sound like she believed it though.</p><p>They finished their coffees in pensive silence before gathering their things and moving on.</p><p>Harry’s mind whirled, this was everything that they hoped for. People were finally seeing the bigger picture. It was not good that they felt helpless to do anything about their situation, but still, the awareness was there, which is what they had been working towards. They just had to keep working on the public, had to keep gradually discrediting Dumbledore and hope that they made enough progress when the time came to prosecute the wily old bastard.</p><hr/><p>Severus frowned at the small cluster of Healers that he was supposed to be teaching. He had arrived in New York four days ago and had been immediately collected by the administrative assistant to Head Healer Gray who was managing the clinical trial. After being shown to his hotel room near the clinic in the heart of New York, he had been introduced to the ten healers who were all working on the Nerve Repair System.</p><p>He had quickly discovered that they had almost entirely failed to understand how the spell worked to administer the potion. They seemed to think that holding the results of the PET Scan in their mind and using the spell to throw the potion at the patient would be enough. For the last few days he had been training with them, trying to get them to understand how it was supposed to work, but his patience was finally at an end.</p><p>Severus sneered at the morons as they failed, yet again, to get the spell right. “Stop. All of you. Take me to the worst patient you have in the trial.”</p><p>Head Healer Gray frowned at him, obviously bothered by Severus’ disdain, but didn’t say anything. Gray had discovered the rough side of Severus’ tongue during their first session. He had attempted to take Severus to task for his caustic nature and had regretted it ever since. Severus doubted the man’s reputation would recover from such a public put down. Not that he cared; if Gray had been competent, Severus wouldn’t have had to come to America to sort this mess out. And a mess it was.</p><p>He was led to a quiet room in the back of the clinic. There were a few rooms that were normally reserved for meeting with patients to check on progress and the like. This one patient was in a similar condition to the Longbottom’s; almost completely absent from life, simply existing on autopilot. When he looked into the middle-aged woman’s eyes, he could easily see the lights were on, but nobody was home.</p><p>“Her scans and a vial of the potion if you please.” Severus held out his hand and was presented with the file but not the potion.</p><p>With a glare at the Healer who clutched the potion, he read through the file, focusing mostly on the scans. There was significant damage throughout the brain, but this was what he was expecting, hoping for really.</p><p>Holding out his hand for the potion, he ratcheted the level of glare up a few notches when the Healer continued to hesitate. Eventually, after exchanging a nervous glance with the Head Healer, the potion was surrendered.</p><p>Checking the seal, he could see it was one of his own brews, thankfully. He knew that the Healers would have local Potions Masters brewing an additional supply, which would be fine, but Severus always preferred to use his own. Selecting one of the scans, he held it up by the patients’ head, trying to imprint as much of the information as he could before beginning the spell. It was mostly a focus of will, the Latin forming a chant to help those without the brute force of magic he had at his disposal.</p><p>
  <em> “sana repara semita, sana repara semita, sana repara semita…”</em>
</p><p>His wand curled and flicked, drawing the potion out of the open vial next to him and allowing it to slowly sink into the patients’ brain. He imagined in his mind's eye the pathways that the potion would take, engulfing the grey matter and repairing the damage. He could feel his magic wrapping around the potion, entwining with the process, combining with the magic of the spell and healing as it went.</p><p>When the vial ran empty, he stopped, panting; realising he was exhausted and soaked in sweat. It was an intense process, but he knew that come tomorrow, the patient would show signs of improvement. Given how extensive the damage was, it would take a few more treatments to repair everything. Well, perhaps not everything, there was always the likelihood that some permanent damage would remain, but anything was better than being a vegetable.</p><p>Turning, he fixed a withering glare on the gobsmacked Healers. “The spell is a guide, it is fine line art, not slapping paint on the canvas.” His sneer was no less effective for his pasty skin and trembling hands. “If it were so easy as throwing the potion at the patient, this problem would have been solved long ago. The three parts work together and require <em>finesse</em>. If you do not have a large amount of magic at your disposal, I would suggest working in teams.”</p><p>Severus straightened his robes, casting one more disdainful glance around the room before looking back to Head Healer Gray who was watching him, well cowed. “I would like to go back to my hotel room, I am tired. I will return tomorrow, and we can try again to get you all working appropriately. I do not appreciate knowing that the potions I painstakingly brewed for this trial are being wasted by incompetents.”</p><p>“Of course Master Snape,” The Head Healer gestured for him to follow the man out of the room. “I will call a car for you.”</p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <strong>
    <em>Skeeter Charged with Treason!</em>
  </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>[Rita Skeeters mug shot – she tries to smile winningly at the camera while holding her placard. Her hair hangs in lank curls around her face, nails broken and chipped.]</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Earlier this year, Aurors received a tip-off that the reporter we love to hate, Rita Skeeter, was an illegal animagus and had been using this ability to gather intel for her vicious articles. She has been held in ministerial custody until her trial yesterday where she was brought up on charges for treason.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It was discovered, on reviewing her past articles, and during the general investigation, that Skeeter had utilised her animagus form, which was a small beetle, to infiltrate highly secret and sensitive meetings in the ministry. Certain discussions and topics were only ever revealed behind closed doors and under heavy secrecy wards, but still, the information was leaked. Now we know how.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>It was also uncovered that Skeeter had been using the illegally obtained information to blackmail certain high-ranking ministry officials to ensure that she continued living in the lap of luxury, her poison quill free to destroy lives.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Skeeter has been sentenced to fifteen years in Azkaban, at the end of which she will receive the dementors kiss. She has been placed in magic binding cuffs to ensure that no matter what she is doing or where she is, Skeeter will not be able to transform and slip away.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>The Ministry provided this comment: ‘Skeeter has been brought to justice; we are only sad it has taken so long to occur. In light of the information she was able to obtain, all the documentation relating to her case has been classified to the highest levels and all parties involved bound by secrecy contracts to ensure the privacy of her victims. The Ministry cabinet and certain members of the Wizengamot have discussed the matter and have agreed that wards preventing any animagus transformations will be placed around the ministry building. No longer will our privacy run the risk of violation. Our citizens can rest assured that this will never happen again.’</em>
</p><p>
  <em>What are your thoughts on the sentencing and on the Ministry’s response? Send your opinion to the Editor for a chance to appear in tomorrow’s paper!</em>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello! Sorry I'm a week late, my daughter got hand foot and mouth and I have discovered that being confined to my one bedroom apartment is not good for anything. It has been a fantastic two weeks, let me tell you.</p>
<p>On the upside, I have converted over to Scrivner as a writing platform, and let me tell you, it is so much easier to track complex plot lines now! One of my fave fanfic authors, Scioneeris, commented about it in one of their AN's, so I decided to check it out. If you're a writer, I recommend giving it a look.</p>
<p>This chapter gets a little dark, but then again, most of this story is... When I went back and did my recent edit, Neville's voice started coming through a lot more, which makes me happy. Neville's character has so much potential!</p>
<p>There have been some questions about Dumbledore's reaction to the compulsion potion being removed. I imagine that it would take him a session or two to notice something was off, then he would have to make the time to check and see if it had been removed. Even if he did discover it was gone, the use of the potion itself in the Wizengamot would be criminal, and so it's not like he can publically react to it. </p>
<p>It can be difficult, as Dumbledore himself doesn't have a voice in the story, so we are only seeing things from the outside. I imagine he would be furious, and would probably work out that Severus knew about the potion and how to counteract it, but as he hasn't had contact with Severus for over a year now, he can't really go and ask him to brew another batch or punish him for removing it.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/>
<p>
  <strong><em>Radical new Population Prosperity bills Proposed</em> </strong>
</p>
<p><em>Are you under the age of 60 and have been enjoying your bachelor or spinsterhood?</em> <em>Have you been enjoying a comfortably childless life to date?</em></p>
<p>
  <em>The ministry no longer cares for your personal freedoms. In a previously never before seen move, an amendment to the existing Marriage Act of 1604 has been proposed forcing all those between the ages of 17 and 60 to marry within 6 months of the bill being passed. Those currently underage are not exempt. They are expected to marry within 6 months of their 17th birthday or their graduation from school, whichever comes second.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>That is not all.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>A new bill has also been proposed requiring all those who are married and childless to bare a child within one year of the bill being passed. If the family has only one child, they are required to bare a second within the next two years. If you can prove the infertility of your partner, the ministry will grant a divorce, permitting the parties to remarry and try again with a fertile partner.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The ministry seems apathetic to any of the issues this will cause, particularly with same-sex couples, or couples whose health is at risk when trying for additional children. Fortunately, one man seems to have the answers to all of our prayers. I reached out to Lord Severus Prince, Britain's foremost Potions Master, who provided the following statement.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>"In collaboration with Fred and George Weasley, last year we developed a gender-changing potion which would allow one member in a same-sex couple to change to the opposite gender. The potion has been in testing in America for almost 3 months now and indicators are positive. Fertility translates across the gender change and women are presenting normal functions necessary for childbearing. We have just received the first reports of successful pregnancies both by women who were previously men, and from men who were previously women impregnating their female partners. We are in the process of setting up a second clinical trial in Britain under the purview of The Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>While I acknowledge it will not be a comfortable experience for many of us who prefer the same gender, it is the only solution beyond divorce to hand. I, personally, am not overly enthusiastic over becoming a woman for the next year or so in order to bear a child to my husband, Harry Potter.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>For those who have struggled with fertility and difficulties carrying to full term, I have been working on a new fertility potion utilising ingredients which were previously unavailable within the magical community. Initial experiments indicate the likelihood of easier baring, improved likelihood of bearing multiples and of bearing to full term. Unfortunately, the potion will be expensive due to the rare and magical nature of the ingredients, but it is my hope that only a single dose will be needed to successfully fall and maintain a pregnancy.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I am already in talks with The Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers in setting up a clinical trial of the fertility potion in Britain so that those who are in need can sign up with the hopes of improving their chances of bearing a first or second child under these new laws.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I would like to take a moment to issue a warning to those who feel they need fertility potions to ensure successful pregnancies. While you can use potions with inferior or non-magical ingredients, it will increase the likelihood of the woman falling pregnant. Be aware that it will also result in the pregnancy feeding off the magic of the child in order to sustain it. For the sake of the mother's health and the child's health, do not purchase lower grade fertility potions or ones with questionable ingredients or brewing practices.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>There you have it, my fellow witches and wizards. The Ministry is yet again attempting to force us into conformity. Thankfully, we have a dark hero who is seeking to help how he can.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p>Harry stood quietly at the back of the hospital room, taking in the visage spread before him. Hermione stood nearby with a white, shaking Draco in her arms. His eyes were wide and unseeing where they stared at the hospital bed and the man lying there.</p>
<p>Pansy was sobbing quietly into Neville's chest. The young Herbology Apprentice looked stricken and hopeless as he rubbed his hands up and down Pansy's back.</p>
<p>Pansy's mother was sitting by the bed, expression cool and calm, like any good pureblood wife would be, but Harry could see it was a mask. A thin layer of ice over a lake that, once stepped on, would shatter forever. Her hand had a white-knuckled grip on her husbands’ limp fingers where they lay on the hospital bed. Narcissa was next to her, poised and calm, but her hand was white-knuckled too where it was tightly tangled with Lady Parkinson’s</p>
<p>Pansy's mother did not look at her husband, instead, her focus was on the healer standing on the other side of the bed. The man was wizened and elderly, exuding a calm aura that gave those around him something to cling to. Healer Ainsworth was the Head Healer on Duty; as a Lord and an active member of the Wizengamot, Briar Parkinson was entitled to be seen by the most senior healer on staff and Harry was sure this man was it.</p>
<p>Words like <em>coma</em>, <em>irreparable, unknown</em> <em>curse</em> and <em>brain</em> <em>damage</em> drifted over to Harry.</p>
<p>It was the day before the December Wizengamot session and the Parkinson manor had been raided. </p>
<p>On one hand, he was devastated for his friend and her family. Pansy had apparently gone to visit her parents in their British manor to discuss the upcoming population prosperity bill and the marriage act amendment. They had been having tea in the rose garden, discussing hers and Neville's relationship and the possibility of marriage when the Aurors had descended.</p>
<p>They had torn the manor apart, claiming they had received a tip that Lord Parkinson had been consorting with terrorists. Everything had been going as well as could be expected when they had tried to confiscate a crown, goblin made and filled with their family magic, that had been in their family, almost since the line had begun.</p>
<p>Pansy was to wear it on her wedding day.</p>
<p>Pansy's father had fought back, claiming that there was nothing dark in the tiara, just protective magic. The Aurors didn't care. Instead of taking Briar in, one of them had cast an aggressive purple spell that caused him to go into convulsions, eventually slipping into his current coma.</p>
<p>The Head Healer was stumped but promised he would do everything he could to try and find a cure for whatever ailed Lord Parkinson. He was a beloved member of society and Harry hoped that something would come up.</p>
<p>On the other hand, it was the day before the December Wizengamot session. Lord Parkinson had been a very popular man, a strong centralist that advocated the investigation of muggle developments while pressing to maintain their traditions and customs. Harry remembered his interactions with the man fondly.</p>
<p>Perhaps this was what they needed to galvanise the neutral faction. Harry dreaded to think who would be attacked next. </p>
<p>When Draco had come tumbling out of his floo just after he had gotten home from training at Gringotts. He had sent Hermione back to the hospital with the blonde, promising to be through soon. After showering, changing and sending off a quick message to Greengrass, he had followed to the hospital where he had been shown to this room where the atmosphere was so grey he expected rain clouds to appear soon.</p>
<p>The healer was leaving, but paused in the doorway, casting a quick tempus. He gave the room an apologetic look. "I am sorry but visiting hours will be over soon, you may return tomorrow at 8 am."</p>
<p>A full-body shudder went through Pansy's mother. He worried that this might be what caused her to shatter; being forced to leave her vulnerable husband after he had been attacked by Aurors. </p>
<p>But then Narcissa rose, dusting her robes off. "Shall we all retire to the manor? Pansy, Violet, we have more than enough space for you to stay in Versailles."</p>
<p>Pansy's mother spluttered weakly, but soon they were all being ushered out of the room and to the floo. Harry was sure his evening would be filled with tea and comfort, he just wished he had Severus with him.</p>
<hr/>
<p>The next morning, Harry dragged himself out of bed reluctantly. Tea had turned into drinks and most of them had gotten spectacularly drunk. He barely remembered stumbling out of the floo and staggering into bed. He did remember going to the bathroom and picking up one of Severus’ hangover cures to take this morning. </p>
<p>Looking around, after he had downed the vile potion and the room had stopped spinning, Harry realised Severus had not yet returned from America. Sighing heavily, Harry shambled through his shower and getting dressed, his hair irritatingly unruly today, no matter what he did with it. Glancing at the clock, he realised he was running out of time and, frustrated, tied the mess back in a bun and hoped no one said anything.</p>
<p>Stepping out of the floo into the Ministry Atrium, he smoothed his robes. He could not afford to look anything but calm and collected. Striding into the Wizengamot chambers, he spotted Severus looking cranky, in his seat. Unfortunately, it was cutting very close to the start time for the session so Harry made his way to his seat without greeting his husband.</p>
<p>With a jolt he remembered that he had administered the antidote to the compulsion charm, it would be interesting to see if there was much change in the way the votes swung. It would be interesting to see if Dumbledore realised.</p>
<p>Harry only half paid attention as Greengrass opened the session. There were no general announcements or changes in seat allocations. Immediately, they went into the reading of the previous bills.</p>
<p>Harry had to suppress the overwhelming urge to punch Fawley as the smug asshole read his Marriage Act amendment.</p>
<p>When Fawley finally finished speaking, Greengrass opened the floor for debate. Neville, still looking worse for the wear from the day prior, stood.</p>
<p>“I don’t understand why you are doing this. Long term, what is it you hope to achieve here?” His voice wavered with exhaustion, but his jaw was set.</p>
<p>Fawley frowned. “We need a boost, not just to the economy, but with a population increase as well. I thought it was rather obvious?”</p>
<p>“Of course it is obvious. It is also cruel and unnecessary!” Neville exclaimed. “Following any kind of conflict where there is death, there is always a boom in marriages and births, so why are you forcing the issue?”</p>
<p>“If it was going to happen anyway, what is the problem?” Fawley snapped back.</p>
<p>“You are taking away our right to choose!” Neville sounded a little hysterical and Harry cringed in pain for his friends' anguish.</p>
<p>“Nonsense, we are just accelerating the inevitable for the greater good of our community.” Fawley waved away the protest. “Your hysteria overdoing your duty is nothing but the tantrum of a child not getting his own way. There is no valid reason not to pass this legislation. Either come up with something better than ‘I don’t want to’, or sit down and be quiet boy!”</p>
<p>“You expect me to marry my girlfriend while her father lies in a coma in St Mungo’s!?”</p>
<p>“Neville, my boy,” Dumbledore’s voice cut through the young man’s hysteria. “perhaps we all need to take a moment to calm down. I understand that this is a trying time, Lord Parkinson’s absence is felt by all of us today. But he would not want us to lose our heads now would he?”</p>
<p>Dumbledore’s expression was painfully kind and it made Harry sick. Briar was in the hospital because of this man and here he was, acting as if he cared whether Lord Parkinson lived or died.</p>
<p>“Lord Fawley, there is no need to antagonise young Lord Longbottom.” Dumbledore threw the man a stern look and he settled down petulantly. “And Neville, we are all only trying to do what is best for our community. It is what we are all here for, isn’t it?”</p>
<p>He waited for a few beats, as if expecting everyone to verbally agree with him, but there was only silence.</p>
<p>“Now, shall we put it to a vote?” Dumbledore prompted.</p>
<p>The bill passed; not by a lot, but it did. Apparently, many of the older members were not as comfortable with forcing the youth into marriage. Sirius certainly held some sway as the proxy for the Dark, but it wasn’t enough in the end.</p>
<p>Fawley rose again, looking less confident after Dumbledore had reprimanded him so publicly. He read the population prosperity bill, seemingly aware of the greater resistance to this piece of legislation.</p>
<p>Harry stood when he finished speaking, immediately disputing the inclusion of the Azkaban clause. “It is madness to include a prison sentence in a population prosperity bill. How would spending time in prison help anyone produce a child?”</p>
<p>“It is meant to act as a deterrent!” Fawley growled.</p>
<p>“Is not the financial penalties enough?” Harry pressed.</p>
<p>“I agree,” Lord Selwyn rose, “we should remove any reference to Azkaban from the bill. The financial penalties are sufficient as a deterrent. We do not want to cripple our community during a drive to increase the population.”</p>
<p>Harry inclined his head gratefully at the support. Fawley looked put out that so many were arguing with him today, but made the changes to the bill, removing Azkaban as a punishment before supplicating the changes for everyone to review.</p>
<p>“We need an additional clause which permits people to be exempt from participating on medical grounds not relating to fertility.” Sirius stood, expression stern. “What of those women who cannot carry a child to term even though they are fertile enough to fall pregnant, to begin with? What of those whose health is put at risk by trying? What of those with a disease which can be passed from parent to child but is detrimental to their life?”</p>
<p>“A Ministry approved healer would have to sign off on the exemption.” Lord Nott suggested.</p>
<p>“But we wouldn’t be allowed to grant an exemption tot heir partner on the same grounds.” Lord Doge responded. “It would remove too many from the pool and the whole aim of this is to increase the population.”</p>
<p>“I would accept that amendment.” Lord Fawley cur in, his eyes glittering. “Exemptions can be granted to those within the target age range on grounds not relating to their fertility status, but the same exemption does not apply to their partner if they have one and that partner tests as fertile and has no health issues themselves.”</p>
<p>Immediately the man began drafting the additional clause. Harry’s heart clenched. For one moment, he had thought Lucius and Narcissa might escape being bound by the law, but no. Lucius would still be obligated to produce a second child, even if Narcissa didn’t have to.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, with the amendments to the bill, the vote was almost unanimous, the only ones who voted against the bill were Sirius, Harry, Neville and Severus, those who would be most impacted by the blasted thing.</p>
<p>There were a few more pieces of legislation, adding or changing the sheer amount of bureaucratic red tape surrounding the ministry.</p>
<p>Finally, Chief Warlock Greengrass called for new bills to be proposed. Fawley rose again and there was a madness to his eyes that made Harry’s heart sink. This would not be good.</p>
<p>"Thank you, Chief Warlock Greengrass,” Fawley puffed up as he magicked the parchments to duplicate themselves, one set going to each member of the chamber. “I would like to present an amendment to the Educational Act of 1845 with an added clause to support the magical children of Britain. I will read the amendment now. This is an amendment to:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Make provision for the law relating to children; to assess and allocate children appropriately according to their core composition.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong>On entrance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a scan will be completed of all children in order to assess their core composition so that they may be supported appropriately by the teaching staff.</strong>
<ol>
<li>Those currently existing students will also be scanned so that they may receive the same benefits as the incoming students.</li>
<li>Information relating to the core composition of a minor will not be released to the public in accordance with the applicable privacy laws relating to minors</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p>As soon as Fawley finished speaking, Harry lurched to his feet, rage washing through him, Severus’ fury an echo to his own. “You go too far Fawley! This has to be the single most horrific amendment proposed. Is it not enough that you have driven the dark faction from Britain, but now you want to pave the way to target our children as well? Supporting them correctly, pah!” </p>
<p>Harry sneered at the man who was glaring at him, but Harry could hear that he had the crowd on his side. “This legislation opens the door for discrimination against children - children! - simply because of the type of core they have. You were allowed to remove the Slytherin house from Hogwarts, you were allowed to drive the dark out, but no more. If you are going to force me to have children to support the prosperity of this country, I will not permit them to be prejudiced even before they are finished their education. I find there are no redeeming qualities of this bill and move to dismiss it immediately!”</p>
<p>Harry was panting by the time he finished. There was a moment of dead silence before the other Lords began agreeing with him loudly. Within minutes, Greengrass called for a motion to dismiss, and the bill was struck from the register. Harry threw a smug grin at a furious Fawley, even Dumbledore turned, for a moment, during voting to level him with the iciest stare the man could administer. Harry just sneered.</p>
<p>The man no longer had power over him, and he could go jump for all he cared. Harry stood by what he had said; if he and Severus were going to be forced to have children, he would not stand by as they were actively punished for how they were born.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey everyone! Sorry this is late, I have not been doing well with motivation lately :( I have really been struggling to put words to paper for a while and so have been zoning out a lot just reading, you know? Anyway, I have a new chapter for you all :)</p>
<p>This one might be a little tough to read, Severus suffers from some serious dysphoria at the end, which may be uncomfortable for some. I have been warning that this stuff is coming, so if you become uncomfortable, please stop reading. I'm not intending to censor any of my story and I'm not about to flag sections that may be triggering because it's going to become such an integral part of the story.</p>
<p>I hope you enjoy regardless.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/>
<p>
  <strong>
    <em>Who’s Greater Good?</em>
  </strong>
</p>
<p>
  <em>As my readers will be familiar with, this intrepid reporter has submitted numerous articles relating to one Lord Harry James Potter. These articles have sparked widespread conversation and legislative change within our community on topics that were previously considered taboo.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>I come to you today, with an article that should not be a surprise but will inevitably shock and horrify you, my faithful readers.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Minister for Magic, Albus Dumbledore, has been involved in some rather shady behaviour prior to his ascension to the most powerful man in Britain. While Headmaster for Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, he made an art form out of bending the rules and dancing with ethics that would make you dizzy. The story I am about to share with you will only demonstrate this point.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>On November First, 1981, an emergency Wizengamot session was called where Headmaster Dumbledore put forth a motion for the Potter’s wills to be sealed. There were barely enough members present to qualify for a quorum and the vote scraped by as a majority in favour. Though the actual votes counted cannot be confirmed, it could easily be guessed that those present were from the light wing or light leaning neutrals who have historically supported Dumbledore.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Following this bizarre act, Harry Potter was then secreted away with his mothers only living relatives, the Dursleys who are muggles. It was claimed that they were his only living relatives, but as all wizarding folk know, we are all inter-related somehow and the entire Black family is closely entangled with the Potters, who still had living members.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>In an interview with Lord Potter, he confessed that during the summer prior to his seventh year, he was finally able to listen to his parent’s wills when he took up the mantle of Lord. He granted me permission to provide the following excerpt of his mother’s will:</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“I have spoken with the following parties and all have agreed to act as Guardian for Harry in the event of our death:</em>
</p>
<ol>
<li><em>Sirius Orion Black</em></li>
<li><em>Alice Longbottom nee Macmillan</em></li>
<li><em>Andromeda Lyra Tonks nee Black</em></li>
<li><em>Augusta Adora Longbottom nee Rosier”</em></li>
</ol>
<p>
  <em>“I want to state categorically that Harry should not be placed into the care of my sister, Petunia Astra Dursley nee Evans. We no longer trust that she will be able to see past her resentment of me to raise Harry properly.”</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Lord Potter was never meant to be placed with his muggle aunt, where he suffered horrific abuse. Instead, there were at least two people remaining who were able to take him in. With the illegal incarceration of Sirius Black and the commitment of Alice Longbottom to St Mungo’s for madness resulting from extended exposure to the cruciatus curse, both Andromeda Tonks and Augusta Longbottom were both able to take in the newly orphaned boy.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>The question is, why were the wills disregarded? Was Lord Potter intentionally placed with his muggle relatives to keep him ignorant of our world and downtrodden by their abuse? Or was it simply an accident of good intentions as they were his closest blood relations?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>When pressed further, Lord Potter had this to say; “Dumbledore has always taken a rather strong interest in my life. For the first four years of my schooling, he was always very present, remaining involved in all of the little adventures that I was encouraged to participate in. It wasn’t until after the return of Voldemort that things changed. Suddenly there was this distance, he refused to see me, to talk to me. It was a very difficult time; I had been forced to participate in a Black magic ritual and had to watch one of my fellow students die before my eyes.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“He seemed to be avoiding me through most of fifth year, and then tried to forget I existed after the defeat of Voldemort. It wasn’t until the summer before my seventh year at Hogwarts that he contacted me again, just prior to my birthday. He tried to force me into an illegal marriage with Ginevra Weasley, but as you all know I was bonded already.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“He even admitted that he was my magical guardian and had somehow forgotten to tell me anything about my inheritance or about me being a lord. When we got to Gringotts, on my birthday, he tried to coerce me into handing over my accounts and my proxies for the Wizengamot. Not that he could have done anything with my seats as it is illegal for the Minister of Magic to hold any seats other than those that belong to his own house and those granted to him by the government.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“For so long I thought I was paranoid or crazy. I still do sometimes. He presents himself as so caring, so loving, like a favoured grandfather. It’s hard to try and see past that. I have spent so long going around in circles; were they manipulations? Was it an honest mistake? But at the end of the day, even if you don’t mean to hurt someone, you remain responsible if you do. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“Regardless of intent or reasoning, things were done that were illegal and wrong. No more can they be allowed to be swept under the rug because many see Dumbledore as the second coming of Merlin. If it had been anyone else, they would have suffered the consequences of their actions. Yet here we are. Dumbledore is untouchable and I am slandered in the media as a liar and a child. When will it end?"</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Was it a series of unfortunate events and choices, coincidences and mistakes, resulting in such a harsh life suffered by Lord Potter? There is a long string of evidence, my readers, that Dumbledore has interfered in Lord Potter’s life, irrevocably changing it from what it could have been. Perhaps the question we should be asking ourselves is why? What purpose did it serve to have a child suffer in such a manner, kept broken and isolated from the world that he rightfully belonged in. Why was it so important that Lord Potter be married into the Weasley family?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>Whose Greater Good is served by these actions and what else is hiding in the dark closet that belongs to Minister Dumbledore?</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p>In the week following Alice’s latest article, chaos ensued. The public was in an uproar, there was enough of a trail that people were beginning to see the truth and they were not happy. The radical light wing faction called for Alice’s incarceration for printing libellous, seditious articles against the Minister. Dumbledore remained suspiciously silent, allowing his sycophants to raise hell in his place.</p>
<p>This combined with the continued outrage over the Ministry’s refusal to return the Runcorn family heirlooms. They would provide no reason as to why they were failing to return the items, only insisting that they required further testing after having them for over a month. The raid on the Parkinson family home did rile the neutral faction who began grumbling at the actions of the light led government. They still seemed reluctant to act, but Harry could see that it would take little more to set alight the fire which was being laid down.</p>
<p>Alice was attacked four days after the article was released. She had been walking out of the Daily Prophet offices when masked assailants swarmed her, beating her to within an inch of her life. Bystanders called for the Aurors who arrived too late to catch the people but got her transported to St Mungo’s in time. </p>
<p>She was placed in a medically induced coma while they healed her broken body. Weirdly enough, it only took a few simple spells to repair the extensive damage, which seemed to bother the healers. They elected to keep her in the coma for the usual amount of time, rather than letting her out earlier, as they were worried the healing spells wouldn't hold. Thankfully, they were confident of her full recovery.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the news for Lord Parkinson was not as positive. He continued in his coma; the doctors unable to figure out what the curse had been. Even Severus had been unable to help and as the weeks crept by, hope guttered out that the man would ever wake.</p>
<p>Pansy was inconsolable.</p>
<p>Her father was supposed to walk her down the aisle within the next six months for her wedding to Neville and now they weren’t even sure whether he would live long enough to see it.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Severus stared at the results from The Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers in America.  The number of people pregnant in the trial was now about half of the participants. Excitement thrummed through him at the realities of his success, though this was tempered by the growing knowledge that soon he would be participating in his own trial.</p>
<p>Extracting some parchment and quill, he penned a letter to St Mungo's confirming their agreement to provide access to a small wing for the potion trial. It was set to commence within the next few days. Now that the bill had been passed, same-sex couples would need to fall pregnant as soon as possible so that they had the best chance of meeting the requirements set down by the Ministry.</p>
<p>Trepidation settled heavily in Severus’ stomach. He knew that offering to bear their first child was the right choice; logically, it made sense, he could still work on planning out potions, he could still participate in the Wizengamot. Severus’ life would only be affected in that he wouldn’t be able to brew while he was pregnant, and there was no guarantee he would fall pregnant quickly. Though, if he did, the sooner it began, the sooner it would be over. Some small part of him was excited by the prospect of starting a family with Harry, but mostly he was horrified by the idea of giving up his body, of being forced into a form that wasn’t his own.</p>
<p>Rising he wandered through the apartment, absentmindedly petting Hedwig as he attached the letter to St Mungo’s to her leg. Severus stood for a while, staring after her, thoughts churning over the massive changes that were pending. He only had a few days left in this form, a few days left as the man he was, flaws as all, before he voluntarily gave it up. A shudder ran through his body, wrapping his arms around himself, he drifted back to the master suite, pausing when he caught himself in the mirror.</p>
<p>Stepping forward, he peered into his own face, taking in the details, the wrinkles and lines. He was angular; had always been more harsh lines than soft curves. There was never any excess meat on his body; poverty as a child, isolation as a youth, spying as an adult, all meaning that he never had the time or the will to care for himself. His skin was creamy now, mostly smooth but for the silver scars that littered him. He fingered one that ran along his temple where Potter Senior had thrown a snowball with a rock embedded in it during the winter of his fourth year. He had been knocked unconscious by the blow and the wound had scarred instead of healing over cleanly because of the delay.</p>
<p>Unbuttoning his robes, he slowly shucked the layers he wrapped around himself. They had been his armour for so long, protecting him from the world. Now he wore them for habit and because they made him more intimidating. Hesitating, he unbuttoned his shirt, shedding that as well, before he toed off his shoes and started on his trousers.</p>
<p>All too soon, he stood, bare and exposed before the mirror. He tried to take in every detail he could, seeing the way his shoulders tapered into his narrow waist, the flat planes of his muscles. His pink nipples hidden behind dark swirls of hair that littered his chest. His hips jutted out, the thatch of curly hair filling the gap between the bones. His thighs were thick and strong, hours spent standing over a cauldron meant his legs were somewhat overdeveloped. Knobbly knees sat above toned calves, his ankles boney and fine. He wriggled his toes, watching the play of bones and muscles as they shifted. The fine dark hair that smattered his legs created a contrast to the pale skin beneath and the scars that littered his body.</p>
<p>Twisting a little, he could see the line where his thigh joined the meat of his arse, the muscle was healthy and strong, carrying him through life. An errant thought ran through his mind, wondering if Harry would appreciate his arse as much in his female form as he did in his male. Finally, unable to put it off any longer, he looked down at the part of his anatomy that he would soon be giving up. It was not that he was particularly partial to having a penis, he was not egotistical about its size or his abilities with it. He was aware of his skills; had spent long years perfecting the art of sex. He knew what he had and how to use it.</p>
<p>Trailing his fingertips along his thigh, he grasped his quiescent cock in one hand, feeling the weight of it in his palm. The skin was soft and fleshy, pliant as he squeezed a little. Lifting it, his other hand moved in to cup and roll the heavy testes that hung beneath. The skin was soft and lightly furred as he tugged. Severus took a moment to feel the blood rushing south, to really feel the growing arousal from the stimulation to such a sensitive part of his anatomy. His eyes darted between his hands where they played and explored, and his reflection in the mirror. It was fascinating to really see the subtle changes his body underwent as his cock thickened and filled in his hand.</p>
<p>Severus watched the play of the setting sun over his skin as he touched his body. There was a heavy melancholy that settled over his heart, which was silly, Severus berated himself. It was not going away forever, once he had borne a child, he would resume his masculine form. It would only be for about a year. It was excessive to grieve over something that would not be lost forever.</p>
<p>He was startled from his thoughts by a body pressing up against his back, strong arms slipping around his waist. Glancing into his reflection in the mirror, he could see Harry, naked, standing behind him, pressing a soft kiss to his shoulder. There was gentle understanding in those green eyes, a reply to the pained vulnerability which Severus knew filled his own.</p>
<p>“Come to bed.” Harry breathed over his shoulder, and Severus allowed himself to be turned away from the mirror and guided back onto the bed.</p>
<p>Severus half resisted when Harry pressed him down, laying him out on their soft blue duvet, but surrendered when the younger man insisted with a look. Soon, he was being overwhelmed as Harry lavished affection and care on every inch of his skin, kissing and licking, biting and sucking. He was so lost in the pleasure of Harry’s hot mouth wrapped around his cock that he didn’t see the younger man prepare himself. Severus didn’t notice what was happening until Harry pulled off, shuffling over Severus’ hips to sink down over his spit slicked length.</p>
<p>Then it was all <em>hot, tight, yes!</em> As Harry rode him. All Severus could do was grasp the younger man’s hips, holding on as he was reminded so perfectly of being a man. Watching as Harry arched over him, head thrown back as they found the right angle so that pleasure sparked and flashed through the younger man’s body. Their moans and sighs mingled with the sound of slapping skin and the slick sounds of their lovemaking.</p>
<p>They came moments apart, Harry’s release splattering over Severus’ chest, his channel tightening until Severus spilled within him. With a wave of Harry’s hand, the mess was cleaned up so he could collapse down onto Severus, his cock still buried deep within the younger man.</p>
<p>“I love you.” Severus finally breathed into the quiet, feeling the need to say the words, to remind himself of why he was giving this up.</p>
<p>“I love you too.” Harry murmured into his collarbone, cuddling in closer.</p>
<p>Severus was grateful Harry didn’t apologise for what he was facing. It would be hard enough going forward without useless regrets hanging over him. He could feel how angry and frustrated Harry was by what was coming and that was the most he could handle.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter 15</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>It's crazy to think I started this story more than a year ago. It is an odd feeling to see 2019 against the first part of this story and realise, that it was two years ago... Time is weird, you know? Pre-COVID, post-COVID, not that it really is post-COVID, considering that where I live went into a three day lock down within the past week but whatever... </p>
<p>Sorry, maudlin thoughts late at night. Moving on. There have been some comments over the past few months asking the question of when Dumbledore is going to go after Severus and I haven't really responded to them? Anyway, the short answer is; he wont. Sure, Dumbledore knows about a fair bit of the shady shit in Severus' past, but Severus has been there for a fair bit of the shady shit Dumbledore has done during his tenure at Hogwarts. It is in cannon, that Dumbledore vouched, personally, for Snape in front of the Wizengamot. Dumbledore previously put his reputation on the line for a nobody Death Eater (which is what he really was at the time). They both know and understand that if either one of them publically went after the other, it would result in mutually assured destruction. I hope that makes sense? It made sense to me. To be honest, it didn't really occur to me to have Dumbledore go after Severus, once his purpose was served for the old man, I felt he kind of disregarded Severus, but was assured of his silence because of their shared skeletons. Severus hasn't shared any of his extra knowledge, voluntarily with Harry, Harry has enough dirt without Severus adding to it.</p>
<p>Anyway, here is a chapter full of angst. There is a sprinkling of Hermione being a good friend too, which is super disjointed for me as where I am writing her character currently (one part ahead) isn't pretty. </p>
<p>On the front of the story as a whole, I am still slogging my way through Part 9, I have gotten 10 chapters in and STILL haven't reached the peak of the story arc. I may scream if I have to start Part 10. I don't think I will though, I am almost there, and have done a fair bit of shoehorning, I am going to write the climax and have even started jotting down bits for the epilogue which will probably be stupid long. Anyway, as long as I don't go back through while I am editing and decide to fill in any of the time skips, I should be fine to stick with 9 parts to the story over all. I think I would prefer that to be honest... While 10 is a nice round number, there is something magical about three sets of three... </p>
<p>Sorry for rambling, as I said above, maudlin thoughts late at night...</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <hr/>
<p>There was a gaggle of about thirty people, all same sex couples all under the age of 40. They clustered together in an unused wing of St Mungo's that had been set aside for the trial. Severus couldn't help but wish that they had the facilities that America enjoyed. The clinic he had visited while he had been over there for the Nerve Repair Trial had been lovely; new and clean, even if it had been filled with morons. Instead of this; the carpet was worn, paint faded in patches, the furniture had seen better days and the ceiling had a suspicious purple stain in one corner.</p>
<p>Harry stood off to the side, smiling at Severus, allowing him the space he needed to do his job but also remaining nearby in case he was needed.</p>
<p>He was not looking forward to this, had never wanted or been even remotely interested in women in any way. The idea of having squishy bits was not appealing at all, but it was the right thing to do. His career was established and while he would probably go insane, not being able to brew for the next year, Harry needed this time to work on his own apprenticeship.</p>
<p>Shaking himself a little, Severus cleared his throat and the room fell silent. Faces turned to him and he could see the couples clinging to each other, fear and hope warring.</p>
<p>"Welcome to the British trial of the Gender Swap and Pregnancy potion. The circumstances under which we are here are not ideal, but we must view this as an opportunity. We have recently received confirmation from the American trial that there are numerous pregnant candidates and I expect this number to increase over the next few months. Initial trends are that a minimum three-month period should be allowed at the beginning for the body to adjust before pregnancy can be expected.</p>
<p>“You will be scheduled to meet with one of the healers every month so that we can track your progress, but if something happens or changes, ensure you contact your healer immediately. Once you fall pregnant, the appointments will shift to bi-weekly check ins to ensure everything is progressing correctly.</p>
<p>“The potion itself should not cause you any discomfort and if you experience any during the process, I ask that you alert your healer immediately. There has been a tingling feeling described that will wash over your body as the change occurs.</p>
<p>“As a part of the trial, you are not permitted to consume fertility potions of any kind. We need to get a clean reading of how this potion impacts fertility and the ability to bear a child to full term. If you are found to be using any of the unauthorised potions on the list you will be provided, you will be removed from the trial. Now, are there any questions before we proceed?" Severus gazed around the room.</p>
<p>"I am becoming a man, does this mean I'll have to go through puberty again?" One petite woman piped up.</p>
<p>"Reports are that there is an adjustment period but nothing as severe as revisiting puberty. You will have to re-learn how to go to the bathroom and you should expect inconvenient erections as you learn to get your thoughts and hormones under control. There may be changes in your personality due to the different hormones in your body, but nothing drastic. Please ensure you speak with your allocated healer about anything and everything you experience. I appreciate it goes against our nature as British, but it is important we collect all data." He paused, waiting for the next question.</p>
<p>A slight man shuffled to the front, blushing furiously. "Will those men becoming women get a monthly?"</p>
<p>"Yes, once this has happened for a few months, it will indicate that you are fertile and ready to bear a child. I personally am not looking forward to the experience, but nevertheless, it must be borne." Severus had to suppress a snort at their astonished looks.</p>
<p>There were a few more questions which were mostly just derivatives or reiterations of the first two questions before the room finally fell silent.</p>
<p>"We have four healers allocated to this trial, I appreciate most of you are nervous, so I have agreed to consume the potion in front of you all when normally you are provided a private space." Severus could almost feel the relief and curiosity fill the room as a healer appeared at his elbow with the vial.</p>
<p>Shrugging out of his robes, Harry stepped over and took them from him, smiling and pressing his hand lightly. Severus spared Harry a small smile, reassurance flowing easily through their bond as Severus took the vial from the healer. The little brunette woman cast a monitoring charm on him and immediately, a scroll of parchment appeared taking a running listing of his vitals.</p>
<p>Tossing it back, he couldn't resist scrunching his nose. It tasted like old socks smelt and dirt. "How did you not notice the taste?!" he frowned.</p>
<p>Harry laughed. "I believe Ron spelled the potion into my stomach."</p>
<p>Severus looked at him in horror, completely forgetting he was supposed to be paying attention to the tingles rushing over his body. "That is an incredibly dangerous spell for someone with no training to use! He could have spelled the potion anywhere in your body!"</p>
<p>Harry shrugged easily. "I don't think he was overly worried. How did you think he dosed me?"</p>
<p>"I assumed one of his cretins held you down while he forced it down your throat." Severus exclaimed, uncaring of their avidly watching audience.</p>
<p>"That's assault, and I don't think Ron is quite so stupid as to do that to me." Harry frowned.</p>
<p>"Not so stu- are you mad?" Severus hissed, "He dosed Hermione with Amortentia after it was made illegal! I highly doubt something like assault would bother him!"</p>
<p>Harry blinked at him, looking a little perplexed. "Severus, this was over a year ago, what do you want me to do about it now? He is already facing the consequences of his actions."</p>
<p>Severus stopped, realising that their audience were all watching curiously. He moved to straighten his cuffs and suddenly felt the changes that had been happening in his body. Looking down, Severus could feel the beginnings of a blush staining his cheeks. Tingles still rippled across his body, but he could see a pair of breasts slowly growing in, filling out the shirt he was wearing until the buttons were gaping. He could feel his genitals shrinking, changing, his form rearranging itself.</p>
<p>Blinking, he looked up at Harry who smiled softly, conjuring a mirror for him to take in his new form, and his breath caught a little.</p>
<p>He was lithe, Severus’ height encouraging him to be slim and willowy instead of the curvaceous woman that Harry had changed into. His breasts were small, which he appreciated, his waist was narrow, and when he twisted, he could see his bum was round and pert. His face had softened, the harsh lines giving way to a smaller nose, more delicate brows and cheekbones, even his jaw was softer.</p>
<p>All of a sudden, he understood how uncomfortable, how uncertain Harry had been the previous year, and his heart stuttered a little over how cruel he had been to the younger man. Regret and sadness overwhelmed him, and Severus turned glossy eyes to his husband who was still smiling softly at him. Severus fell into his waiting arms gratefully, barely paying attention as the healers called the patients to order, ushering couples into private rooms so that they could begin administering the potion.</p>
<p>He didn’t notice as Harry conjured a loveseat for them, right in the waiting room, and sat down so that Severus could curl into Harry. He didn’t see the conjured curtains that fell from the ceiling, surrounding them in a bubble of warmth and privacy while he struggled with everything. Tears slipped free from his scrunched eyes, dribbling down the sides of his nose and wetting Harry’s shoulder where his face was buried.</p>
<p>All of his mental shields, all of his training crumbled under the force of the bizarre experience he was suffering under. He was a woman, body flooded with womanly hormones and Severus was lost. The only thing anchoring him was the feeling of Harry’s arms around him and the thread of their heart bond which was filled with love and reassurance.</p>
<p>As his sniffles finally eased off, he mentally berated himself for such an excessive show of emotion, but before he could get too far into it, fingers tucked under his chin, forcing him to look up. Shining green eyes smiled at him as fingers carded through his hair.</p>
<p>“None of that now.” Harry murmured before pressing a soft kiss to his lips and Severus sighed into the comfort of it.</p>
<p>A sound of a bell overhead pulled them from the moment and Severus felt a heavy blush stain his cheeks. It was mortifying, both getting so lost in the moment while in public and the way his body was responding to everything.</p>
<p>He felt Harry run his hands over his body, suddenly allowing his clothes to fit better on his new form. He was then arranged -arranged!- next to Harry on the loveseat before the curtains were flicked open to permit the waiting healer.</p>
<p>“A perfectly normal reaction to the potion Lord Prince.” She assured him before he could say anything. “Most men find themselves overwhelmed by the flood of hormones when changing into a woman and end up crying, it is why we encourage the partners to be here. The women who change into men often become angry following the change, the testosterone causing them to become somewhat aggressive.” The woman calmly explained as she waved her wand, results spitting out. She hummed as she checked him over before extracting an appointment card from her apron.</p>
<p>“Your results are all normal, the potion has taken extremely well. I expect to see you in a month. Your appointment details are on the card.” She gave him a stern look. “If anything feels off or wrong, please contact me immediately, you know how important good data is for the study so I will expect you to be a model patient.”</p>
<p>“Thank you, Healer Jones, I will make sure Severus behaves.” Harry commented cheekily and the woman smiled at him.</p>
<p>Jealousy washed through him all of a sudden and Harry looked at him, quirking a brow.</p>
<p>“You do that, Lord Potter. Now, you are all done here, you can both go home.” She bustled out of the little enclosure before either of them could comment.</p>
<p>Embarrassment followed closely on the heels of his jealousy. What on earth was going on here?!</p>
<p>“Shall we go home?” Harry asked quietly and Severus could only nod, allowing himself to be towed through the hospital and to the floo.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Harry watched Severus stop in the middle of their Paris bedroom after they returned from St Mungo’s. He could feel how uncomfortable the man was and it made his skin itch.</p>
<p>“Severus,”</p>
<p>The man startled, jerking around to look at Harry. His eyes were wide now, liquid black pools you could so easily fall into now. The barriers Severus usually kept around himself had been stripped away with the change. He knew that the older man would erect them again with time and work, but for now, he was bare and vulnerable.</p>
<p>“Perhaps a hot shower? Or a bath? So you can relax.” Harry suggested.</p>
<p>Severus swallowed, and for a moment, Harry expected to see his Adam’s apple bob, but no, it was just the long lines of his pale throat.</p>
<p>“Yes, perhaps that might be best,” Severus replied. Instead of velvet, his voice now sounded closer to silk, a little lighter, a little softer, but still so very rich.</p>
<p>“Would you like to be alone, or would you prefer some company?” Harry offered gently, remembering how difficult it had been for him to be alone, seeing his body in a woman’s form for the first time. He had desperately wished Severus had been there with him, to remind him that it was all still ok.</p>
<p>Severus flushed, the stain spreading across his cheeks, to the tips of his ears. “I don’t think I want to be alone right now.” He murmured. Harry couldn’t remember the man ever blushing before. It was mesmerising to watch.</p>
<p>Harry could only smile at him, leading him to the bathroom and getting the water running so it would be nice and hot. Smothering a sigh, he turned to Severus and began the process of stripping them both, making sure that for every item of clothing he took off the older man, he took one off himself, so that Severus wouldn’t have to feel overly exposed.</p>
<p>Objectively speaking, it was astonishing how lovely Severus was in female form. Harry could see the man he had been and how he had changed to a woman. Long black hair tumbled over narrow shoulders, small breasts sat high over a slim frame. His waist was so tiny, Harry imagined he could wrap his hands around it and almost touch. Severus’ hips were wider than they had been as a man, but they were still small and delicate, hip bones protruding over the curve of his belly. It was definitely odd, seeing the thatch of black hair with no penis. From his own time as a woman, Harry remembered what it was like down there and could only hope that the experience itself wouldn’t be too off-putting.</p>
<p>As he ushered Severus into the shower, Harry couldn’t help but admire the sway of his back and the curve of his surprisingly plush ass. It really was bewildering, his body struggling to decide if it was aroused by the sight of his husband and the memories of their shared intimacies, or put off by his current female form in all its glory.</p>
<p>Setting it aside to consider later, Harry focused on taking the time to wash Severus. The touches were all decidedly non-sexual; he wanted to help the older man grow comfortable in his own skin. It would be a long time for him to be stuck as a woman and it was important to do everything he could to help Severus settle into his new form.</p>
<p>Once done, Harry wrapped Severus in his arms and simply held him for a while under the hot water, it seemed to soothe the other man. Severus’ arms were looped loosely around Harry’s hips, the man’s face tucked into the curve of his neck and shoulder. Harry was careful to keep his arms lightly wrapped around Severus’ shoulders. The pair were twisted slightly so Severus’ new breasts wouldn’t get squashed between them and Harry’s cock wouldn’t rest against Severus’ skin. It was a relief, how easy they had both adjusted their normal way of holding each other.</p>
<p>Harry tried not to think too much, tried not to let worries crowd in. He did his best just to remain calm, to focus on keeping Severus calm while he processed the adjustment. Or at least started to process it; Harry knew that there was every chance Severus would never come to accept his female form. Not that Harry blamed him, he doubted he would do any better when it was his turn to change and bear a child.</p>
<p>“Severus,” Harry began quietly and waited for his hum of acknowledgement. “When I was a woman there were a few pointers that Hermione and the other girls gave Draco and I that I should probably pass on. Do you want to hear them now? Or would you like to go to bed?”</p>
<p>“Bed sounds nice.” He replied sleepily and Harry could tell that nothing he told the man would sink in, even if he had agreed to listen. Coaxing Severus out of the shower, Harry towelled him off. Together, they curled up in bed, skin on skin, and simply enjoyed the comfort of each other’s presence.</p>
<p>Harry knew that once Severus awoke, the man would feel compelled to cover up. He wanted to try and prove that he didn’t care if Severus was stuck as a woman before insecurities and anxieties set in. He hoped it would work.</p>
<p>Christmas was only two weeks away and they would not have much more time to just be together, so Harry planned to take advantage of it where he could. There was still his apprenticeship most days, Christmas shopping and seeing their found family. Harry only hoped he and Severus would survive the holiday season with their sanity intact.</p>
<hr/>
<p>They had napped away the afternoon, after Severus’ change, and he had woken to find Harry curled protectively around him. His heart fluttered, much to his irritation. While he knew he didn’t need protection, he loved the fact that Harry was offering it anyway. Exasperated at his own bizarre thoughts, Severus extracted himself from the bed and went to his wardrobe, intending on dressing for dinner. He stopped when he really looked at his clothes, horrified to realise that nothing he usually wore would fit him anymore. He remembered how his shirt had gaped because of his new breasts, how difficult it had been for Harry to get his trousers off because his body filled them out in different spots. </p>
<p>Shoving the doors shut, he turned away from the mirror, refusing to look at himself, to acknowledge what he had consented to become. A spike of anger burned through him at Harry for forcing this upon him. If the blasted boy hadn’t forced their bonding, he wouldn’t be in this position. </p>
<p>Just as quickly as the anger came, it went.</p>
<p>It was not Harry’s fault. Severus had offered to do this and he knew he was lucky to have a life partner like Harry.</p>
<p>Donning his bathrobe, pulling the tie tight around his waist, he stepped out of the room. Going to the little bar in the loungeroom, Severus poured himself a glass of his favourite scotch. Wandering out onto the balcony, he sipped on the amber liquid and tried to focus on the lovely view laid out before him.</p>
<p>“Severus?”</p>
<p>He glanced over his shoulder to see Hermione looking tired and still dressed in her work robes, hovering in the doorway. He appreciated that she smothered her surprise quickly at his appearance.</p>
<p>“Hermione.” He greeted, turning back to the view. After a few moments, she stepped up beside him, leaning against the balustrade to look out. </p>
<p>“I can’t imagine what it would be like. It was hard enough for me to get over being dosed with Amortentia by Ron. Harry had such a hard time of it when he was stuck as a woman.” She was kind enough not to mention how horribly he had treated Harry.</p>
<p>“I seem to have an issue with attire.” He grumbled, uncomfortable talking about feelings or anything else relating to the change. </p>
<p>Hermione chuckled a little. “Yes, it can be quite awkward, perhaps you can borrow something of mine and tomorrow we could go shopping?”</p>
<p>He was unable to hide his horror at the thought of going shopping for women’s clothes. Her smile was heartrendingly kind, and he cursed his complete inability to control his emotions once more.</p>
<p>“France is rather more forward-thinking than England, there are a few shops I can think of that stock some more androgynous types of clothing. It wouldn’t be the same as what you wore before, but they will be comfortable and not overly feminine.” She continued, her expression asking him to trust her.</p>
<p>“Thank you, Hermione, I would appreciate that.” Severus murmured.</p>
<p>He finished his drink and she grasped his elbow, towing him towards her room. Plonking him down on a plush armchair, she ignored his protests as she rummaged through her wardrobe for a few moments. Eventually, she came back with a black blouse and a pair of black trousers. A plain skin tone bra hung from one wrist.</p>
<p>“Alright, this is going to be awkward for us both, but it needs to be done.” Hermione grimaced a little. “Harry would transfigure his own underwear into something that fits better, but you will need to wear a bra.” She set down the shirt and trousers, holding out the bra to him as horror began to mount in Severus. “If you are unfamiliar with them, you should put it on back to front and clasp it before spinning it around. I will see if we can get you any front closing bra’s tomorrow but I don’t own any, so this will have to do.” </p>
<p>Awkwardly, Severus took the bra, turning away and tying his robe around his waist. Looking at the contraption in his hands, he could see the cups where his new breasts would fit. There were shoulder straps for his arms and the band to wrap around his ribs. As suggested, he set the cups at the back, pulling the ends of the band to the front so he could peer at the catches. After a few moments, he managed to join the two ends together before spinning it around and slipping his arms through the straps. He tried to settle it, but everything felt too loose and it gaped at the front so he could almost see his nipples.</p>
<p>Severus could feel embarrassment thrumming through him. Unable to look up, he focused on how Hermione swished her wand a few times, the bands tightening until it fit snug against his skin. The cups shrank until they settled closer to him. </p>
<p>"Lean forward and I want you to fit your hand inside the cup and lift your breast a little," Hermione instructed.</p>
<p>Severus had started following her instructions but straightened with a jerk as she finished speaking. She only arched a brow, waiting for him to comply. With a huff, he did as asked, cringing at the feeling of the soft rounded skin in his hand. He did both sides and looked up, stilling as she tested the straps and the overall fit on the blasted thing.</p>
<p>Apparently satisfied, she handed over the clothes. "If you have trouble getting your underwear to sit right, come back and I can help. It took Harry a few goes to get it right."</p>
<p>With an embarrassed nod, he fled the room, robe trailing behind him from where it was still tied at his hips. It was mortifying and humiliating. He had not even considered all these aspects of being a woman, too focused on becoming pregnant.</p>
<p>Severus remembered Harry’s comment that Hermione would have tips on how to make his life as a woman easier. He made a mental note to ask her, once he was dressed. Severus was going to be stuck as a woman got the next year; the sooner he got used to it and adapted, the better. He had no intention of suffering for however long he was in this form.</p>
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